COD Centre of Detention
by sparky128
Summary: Merlin/Arthur. In Merlin's opinion, Arthur Pendragon is a complete prat. Isn't it odd how quickly and wholly a person's opinion can change? A tale of how a few detentions, a couple of arguments and a kiss can change your life. High School AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** COD (Centre of Detention)

**Author:** topperchar

**Characters:** Merlin/Arthur (various OCs and canon characters mentioned in passing)

**Rating:** NC-17

**Word Count:** 2797

**Summary: **Merlin is in detention and he finds company from a very odd source – Arthur Pendragon. High school AU

**Warnings: **Naughty language, tiny bit of blaspheming. The rating is for the language not anything else.

**A/N:** I still lack a beta – it is sad, I know. Sorry in advance for any mistakes. COD (Centre of Detention) were a band in my old school and I saw something the other day that reminded me of them and for a peculiar reason that I don't really know I was bitten by a giant killer plot bunny. Now we all know the nature of these viscous creatures, so I sat down and wrote this. Then it exploded as most of my projects do. At the moment this is a one-shot, but I am considering adding more. This is where you come in, my lovely readers. I would like to know if you think it's good or bad and should be continued or binned. It would be really helpful if you tell me your opinion and if I have a good bit of interest then I will continue. So tell me what you think and I hope its ok.

**Disclaimer:** All characters are the property of the BBC. Everything else is the product of my odd mind. Enjoy!

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It was official – Merlin's life sucked. He had been put into detention for a reason unbeknownst to him; what exactly was wrong with calling a teacher an idiot anyway? Especially seen as said teacher _was _an idiot; who uses long division on a calculator paper in maths, really!

Nevertheless, he followed Mr Baxter – the school's head teacher – into the hall where all detentions took place. The room was large and had a monumental stage at one end. There were long wooden panels which were in-keeping with the old architecture of the school on the ceiling and the immaculate linoleum floor squeaked under Mr Baxter's gleaming shoes. Merlin's own shoes were looking a little run down – he would have to buy a new pair sometime soon. He had moved to Camelot Academy two weeks ago and almost every night of those two weeks had been filled with a detention. It was hardly his fault that he had gotten into a fight with one of the parent governor's sons on the first day – it _really _hadn't been his fault, well maybe a little.

Merlin sighed the sigh of the greatly put upon and lowered into the chair that Mr Baxter gestured at; there were three sheets of paper in front of him.

"You will write Mrs Spencer a letter highlighting how very sorry you are about the incident and about how it will never happen again. Understand?" the man said imperiously, he looked down his nose at Merlin in a clear show of disgust.

Merlin nodded sharply, "Yes."

"Good," Mr Baxter replied with a false smile. "I will be back in one hour to check on your progress and let you go. I will be telling your uncle about this Emrys."

Merlin glared as the man pranced out of the room. He despised people who called him by his last name. Sighing again, Merlin pulled a pen from the depths of his bag and starting scribbling his letter.

_Dear Mrs Spencer,_

_I am exceedingly sorry for calling you an idiot; perhaps it was slightly rude of me. Although, to be honest, it was stupid of you to use long division on a calculator paper and I think you need to understand that I was right in calling you an idiot. You seriously need to rethink your teaching techniques. How many people do you know who will willingly do long division when there is a calculator sitting right there?_

Merlin paused and chewed the top of his pen. Was he being too blunt? He had never been very good at tact. If only Gwen were there, she'd know what to write.

Gwen was the first person Merlin had met at Camelot Academy – well, after Prat-Face (the parent governor's son who he had gotten into a fight with) that is – and she and Merlin had become fast friends. She was sweet and kind and had an amazing talent for making everyone love her and do exactly what she asked without seeming like a bitch or even really needing to ask. Merlin loved her a little. Not only that, but the girl had been a life saver, offering Merlin tips about what not to do. He read through his letter again and dropped his head onto the table with a groan – Gwen was exactly what he needed and exactly the kind of person who would never get into detention, ever.

"You're not going to write a letter of apology by doing that," a voice said from somewhere behind Merlin.

The dark haired boy jumped and yelped, managing to scatter his papers, drop his pen and make a fool of himself all in one go. Merlin was talented like that. He turned to scowl at the voice that had frightened him, when his eyes met Prat-Face his scowl morphed into a glare. Prat-Face – or Arthur, as that was his name – had already bent to collect his pen and his papers and were holding them out for Merlin with a smug smirk on his perfect face. _Damn these pretty boys and their handsome tendencies,_ Merlin thought savagely to himself as he snatched the pen and paper from him while feeling a blush rise up his neck to swamp his ears and cheeks.

Arthur (Prat-Face) raised his eyebrows and leant against the desk next to Merlin's. Merlin groaned internally – what did he want? It was one of five options, to tease, to taunt, to tease, to gloat or to tease. Well technically that was only three, but it really depended on whether Arthur was going to tease Merlin about the size of his ears, about his inability to stay standing upright for longer than ten seconds or about Merlin's mental disease, which he so did not have no matter what everyone said. "What do you want?" Merlin spat out harshly.

"Just to ask how you were doing," Arthur replied with a satisfied grin.

Merlin raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah, I'm doing just dandy, you know. I'm stuck in detention again because a teacher is too retarded to teach and now Mr Baxter is going to call Gaius and he's going to rip the shit out of me. I'm doing fucking spectacular, how about you? Beat up any little kids recently?" he replied sarcastically.

It was Arthur's turn to raise his eyebrows. "Your language is appalling," he said. "And I detest the stereotypical idea you have of me. I only beat up kids the same size as me."

"A bit like me," Merlin returned humourlessly.

Arthur smiled – all teeth and feral edges. "Yes, like you." He picked up Merlin's letter before he had the chance to snap it out of the way. "It's a shame that you can't defend yourself though."

Merlin bristled at the insult. "I can defend myself," he subconsciously straightened to his full height.

The blonde looked down on him condescendingly. "Right," he let the paper fall back down to the desk. "It needs some work. Do you actually know what an apology is?"

"Ha ha, you are so funny. My sides are splitting." The other boy pulled his letter towards him defensively.

Arthur rolled his eyes and lowered himself into the chair beside Merlin's. The dark haired boy immediately recoiled and watched Arthur cautiously. "I could help you," he said.

Merlin raised an eyebrow in a perfect imitation of Gaius. "Why would you help me?"

"You can be my charity case."

"Is that how you're planning on getting me to agree?" he asked.

Arthur flashed a sharp toothed grin at him and Merlin felt his heart constrict slightly. _Stupid attractive prat,_ he thought looking down at his paper to hide the blush that was creeping back up his neck. "Really Merlin, you need all the help you can get. You should be jumping at my offer of assistance. I don't do it often you know," Arthur leant his chair back, balancing it on two legs, and started twirling Merlin's pen between his fingers. He looked so smug.

Merlin snatched his pencil away from the blonde and resisted the urge to push the chair over. "You think you're so important don't you?"

"That's because I am," Arthur returned simply.

Merlin snorted. "If you are so important then why are you in detention?"

"I'm not."

"Well you clearly are because you are here annoying the hell out of me," Merlin scowled at him and shuffled towards the other end of the desk.

Irritatingly, Arthur followed his shuffling retreat. "I'm not here because I have a detention. You're the only one here with a detention as you can see," he waved a vague hand around the hall. It was empty except for them.

"Then why are you here?" Merlin asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

Arthur shrugged and avoided the question. "I agree with you on Mrs Spence being an idiot, but I think there are better ways of displaying your views than calling someone a retard."

Merlin was getting increasingly suspicious – Arthur was offering his help, being nice to him _and_ agreeing with him. Since Merlin had arrived in Camelot, he couldn't remember the blonde doing anything other than teasing him or trying to trip him up. Maybe this was a new game, his friends were probably going to pop out from behind a wall and say something ridiculous about his parentage in a minute. Just to check, Merlin shot a quick look around the room; he couldn't see any badly concealed students, although you never know...

Arthur pulled him out of his thoughts by clicking his fingers in front of his. "Christ Merlin, you have the attention span of a small child. Were you even listening to what I just said?"

"Um..." the truth was that Merlin hadn't been listening, but it was unbelievable how much he really didn't want to admit that to Arthur.

"I'll help you rewrite your...apology. If that's what that awful excuse of a paragraph could be called," Arthur said smugly, flicking at Merlin's letter distastefully.

"Shut up," Merlin hugged his letter to his chest. For a strange reason he felt protective of it and had a peculiar urge to defend it. "I'd like to see you do better."

"And you will," Arthur replied. He pulled one of the other pieces of paper towards him and picked up Merlin's pen. He placed the pen in Merlin's hand and said, "Right, first of all you need her name..."

That was how Merlin ended up spending his entire detention (one whole hour!) with Arthur Pendragon dictating what he should write in a letter to apologize for calling his Maths teacher a retard. When Mr Baxter returned and saw Merlin's completed (and improved) letter along with a laughing Arthur and a petulant Merlin he looked like he was about to faint.

"Mr Pendragon," he exclaimed. Merlin could practically see him trying to resist getting on the floor and kissing Arthur's feet. _Why does Arthur get a 'Mr Pendragon' and I get an 'Emrys'?_ Merlin scowled at the teacher who was going down in his good books considerably quickly. "I was not aware that you were here. What are you doing staying after school so late?" the teacher asked Arthur with a sickeningly pathetic lilt to his tone.

Arthur shrugged and rose from where he had been sitting beside Merlin. "Oh you know, just thought I'd stay." He grinned at Merlin, "I was helping your detentionee with his letter."

Mr Baxter's attention was ripped back to Merlin. "I see," he frowned at Merlin. "I haven't got round to calling your Uncle yet Emrys."

Merlin contented himself with imagining Mr Baxter setting alight instead of actually getting up and punching him in the face while screaming "My name is Merlin!" Somehow he didn't think the latter would go down too well, but at least he wouldn't be blamed for the former.

"You don't need to do that Mr Baxter," Arthur interrupted. "I think Merlin has learnt his lesson well enough without his Uncle being informed, don't you?"

Merlin blinked at Arthur in surprise. Had he seriously just got Merlin out of trouble? The dark haired boy shuddered internally at the demands Arthur was likely to make in payment for this. Or maybe Arthur was just genuinely being nice, either way he was shooting up to the top of Merlin's good books as fast as Mr Baxter was falling.

Mr Baxter spluttered at Arthur. He wouldn't say no – no teacher in their right mind would say no to Arthur, his father did practically fund the school after all – but he was definitely shocked. "Ok...um...Of course Mr Pendragon, I think you are right." Mr Baxter strained a smile and then dismissed them.

Merlin gathered his things together rapidly and darted out of the hall, tripping over his feet in the process. He was almost out of the gate by the time that he heard Arthur shouting, "Hold on a second Merlin! Slow down will you!"

Reluctantly, he slowed his pace and the blonde caught up with him. His school bag was slung over his shoulder casually. "What's the rush?"

Merlin glanced down at his feet and mumbled something – not even he knew what he had mumbled, but thankfully Arthur didn't ask.

"Where are you going?"

"Home," Merlin replied. Was it not obvious?

Arthur glanced at him. "Where do you live?"

Immediately, Merlin bought up his defence. "Why do you want to know?"

He was met with a shrug. "Just curious. Are you walking?"

"Does it matter?"

"No," Arthur smiled. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Is it any of your business?"

"Stop answering my questions with questions dammit!"Arthur stopped abruptly and Merlin – for a reason he didn't really understand – stopped too. "Shall we start again? Where do you live?"

Merlin pointed to the right, they had stopped just outside the gates; to the left was the place where most of the students in Camelot Academy lived, the rich and posh area, and to the right was the place where Merlin and Gwen along with a few others lived, the not-so-posh-but-not-exactly-deprived-area.

Arthur raised his eyebrows. "That's a bit vague. There are a lot of houses and roads down there."

"I'm not telling you."

"Why?"

"Because you'll tell your friends and then you'll probably come and egg my house." In all honesty, Merlin had never had his house egged. When he had lived in Ealdor he had been one of only a few youngsters and they all got along reasonably well. They thought he was odd, but wouldn't pick on him because he had Will who would threaten to beat them up if they so much as looked at Merlin in the wrong way. Will was one of the things Merlin missed most.

Arthur spluttered. Merlin assumed it was in outrage from the expression on his face. "Why would I egg your house?"

Merlin's only reply was an indifferent shrug. "Am I finished with yet? I want to go home."

"No, I still have more questions," the other boy replied.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I'm curious. Are you walking home?" was the next question.

"Yes," Merlin replied shortly.

"Finally a straight answer, I thought I'd never get one," Arthur smiled at Merlin and let out a small bubble of laughter.

It was not Merlin's fault at all that he couldn't help but return the smile. And Arthur's laughter did not fill his stomach with butterflies. No it most certainly didn't. Not even a little bit. "Next."

"What are you doing tonight?" Arthur asked.

"Working."

"Like homework?"

"Like work."

"Oh," Arthur looked at Merlin blankly.

"My Uncle owns a shop; I sometimes help out after school and stuff. He pays me. It's not brilliant, but it's good and he doesn't have enough money to actually get someone in, you know?" Merlin was suddenly embarrassed.

Arthur was nodding but he said, "No. I don't really know at all."

"Maybe I could show you sometime?" Merlin suggested with a small smile.

"That would be nice," Arthur replied with a small smile of his own. This one was nothing like the grin and laughter, but it still sent butterflies dancing in Merlin's stomach for an entirely different reason.

"That was the last question," Merlin realised with something like disappointment.

"Yeah it was." At least Arthur looked disappointed too. "I'll see you around, yeah?"

Merlin nodded and started walking backwards. "Ok." He really didn't want to stop looking at Arthur.

"Bye," Arthur called and started walking backwards too.

Merlin nodded. "Bye," he called back still unable to tear his eyes away. So really it was all Arthur's fault for being too bloody attractive for his own good when Merlin walked backwards into a lamppost and fell over a bin because he wasn't watching where he was putting his feet.

Arthur – being the unsympathetic sod that he is – laughed. Merlin pulled himself back to his feet with much cursing and flailing. His face was not burning with heat because he had fallen over in front of Arthur and his hands were not grazed and his knees were not throbbing with pain and highly likely to turn a horrible purple colour tomorrow. That was all a figment of Merlin's imagination which he was going to ignore. However, he couldn't bring himself to ignore Arthur's query of, "You are alright aren't you? Haven't wounded anything but your pride?"

"I'm fine," Merlin called back.

"Good. I wouldn't like to think a lamppost can do a better job of tripping you up than I can." Arthur was grinning broadly when Merlin turned to look at him, this time he stopped while observing the blonde. "I'll see you later."

Merlin didn't reply and instead carried on walking home. He was a little confused. What had just happened? Maybe Gwen would have the answer to that question.

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Thanks for reading! Comments are love 3


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** COD (Centre of Detention) Chapter 2

**Characters:** Merlin/Arthur, so-tiny-if-you-blink-you-will-miss-it Lance/Gwen, Morgana, Leon and various OCs and canon characters.

**Rating:** NC-17

**Word Count:** 2,411

**Summary: **In Merlin's opinion, Arthur Pendragon is a complete prat. Isn't it odd how quickly and wholly a person's opinion can change? A tale of how a few detentions, a couple of arguments and a kiss can change your life. High school AU

**Warnings: **Naughty language, tiny bit of blaspheming. The rating is for the language not anything else.

**A/N: **Firstly, I want to say thank you to all the lovely people who reviewed my last chapter. You left some lovely reviews which encouraged me to write this part, so thank you! Secondly, if you don't know the school system in the UK then I am just going to very briefly outline it for you because I think it may be of some consequence to this part. This is set in a secondary school (sort of like a high school) and the first year of secondary school is called Year 7; compulsory education at the moment goes up to Year 11 and then there are two more years where students have the option to do A-levels (a little bit like college in America). Year 12 is the first year of sixth form and Year 13 is the second year of sixth form. So there was your crash course in English education, I hope it was moderately useful. Hope you like!

**Disclaimer:** All characters are the property of the BBC. Everything else is the product of my odd mind. Enjoy!

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"He was being so _nice_; it was creepy," Merlin said to Gwen as they stomped up the steps outside Camelot Academy the next day. "And it wasn't a nice nice either, it was a weird nice. Like the kind of nice that stalker people are to their unsuspecting victims." Merlin shuddered at the memory – the shiver had nothing to do with the way Arthur smiled at all. It was a bad shiver, definitely a bad shiver. Or at least that's what he told himself.

"May be he feels guilty about picking on you before," Gwen supplied with a cheery smile while side-stepping a lip-locked couple. "I'm sure he was just trying to be friendly."

They were inside at this point and Merlin snorted derisively. "Friendly? I don't think he knows what the word means."

"But you said he was being nice?" His friend replied with a knowing smile.

"Perhaps," Merlin yanked his bag higher up onto his shoulder – it was unfairly heavy. He eyed Gwen's petite handbag, which undoubtedly weighed 2 pounds, with envy.

"Why do you say 'perhaps'?" She walked along the hallway with an ease that can only be achieved by six years spent travelling the same path practically every day. Merlin stumbled and tripped into people – his clumsiness was bought into sharp relief by Gwen's grace.

"I have a theory," he told her with an inspirational gleam in his eye.

She rolled her eyes, but humoured him nevertheless as he started outlining his theory. "I think he's trying to trick me into a false sense of security and then, just when I think I'm safe and I can call him my friend, BAM! He and his evil associates will attack. Or he could be trying to get me to tell him a secret which he is planning on spreading around school." He turned to Gwen with a horrified expression, "Oh god Gwen, what if I fall for it? What if I tell him some huge secret and then everyone finds out? What will I do?"

The brunette rolled her eyes again. "I don't think we're in any fear of you letting something slip. You're being paranoid Merlin. Why are you so certain that he doesn't just enjoy your company and want to be your friend? He may have just helped you because he _wanted_ to help you; Arthur doesn't have to have an ulterior motive." She patted his arm comfortingly and started considering what she would have for lunch.

"He's a sadistic bastard that's why. Besides, why would someone like Arthur want to be friend's with someone like me?" Merlin asked exasperation evident in his voice.

Gwen smiled wickedly. "Maybe he doesn't want to be your _friend_," she said suggestively.

The dark haired boy wrinkled his nose. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe he likes you."

A snort was the answer to that statement. "Don't be ridiculous. You couldn't find someone straighter than Arthur if you searched the world."

"Whatever you say," she grinned to herself, but let the subject drop. "I still think he was just trying to be nice though."

Merlin sighed. "I guess, maybe, yeah." He gazed off down the hallway in his own world wondering if there might have been some truth in what Gwen had said. Could that be? Arthur, like him? It was unlikely that that would even be a possibility, but you never know....

Gwen abruptly pulled him out of his daydream with her next words. "Ok, I take it all back. He's an asshole." She was staring down the other end of the hallway and when Merlin turned to fix his gaze on the thing that had caught her attention he didn't like what he saw.

Arthur and his 'friends' were picking on a boy – a boy who was about half the size of the blonde. _So much for only picking on people the same size as you,_ Merlin thought bitterly. The boy looked like he was in Year 7 and Arthur's friends had his bag. They were playing catch with it while the boy desperately ran between them trying to get it back. Arthur stood to one side watching the affair with disinterest, not even attempting to intervene or dissuade his friends from picking on the younger boy; two of his friends were standing on either side of him. Merlin recognised one of them from Biology; his name was Lancelot and he was practically perfect in every way. It always confused Merlin why he hung around with Arthur and his cruel friends when he was so nice. The other boy was someone who Merlin didn't know very well; his name was Leon. Both Leon and Lancelot observed the boy with pity and something that looked strangely close to confliction.

"What the hell?" Merlin asked in outrage.

Gwen shrugged. "It's just the way things are Merlin, there's nothing we can do about it," she sighed sadly.

"Like hell there isn't," he growled in reply as he started marching over to the group of bullies – being the defender of the realm that he was and all that.

The petite girl squeaked, "Merlin!" and hurried after him.

"They have no right to treat anyone like that," his face was stormy and his hands were balled into fists. Merlin knew what it was like to be picked on and there was no way he was going to let Arthur's friends get away with doing that. The poor boy was barely eleven!

People leapt out of the way as Merlin cut a clear path towards the group of boys; Gwen hurried along behind him looking pale and slightly terrified. "Merlin, I don't think this is a good idea. I mean, I totally understand you wanting to stick up for the poor and down trod, but I'm not sure if this is really the best way that you could do it. Maybe you should just join the student council or something?" she suggested breathlessly, trying urgently to stop her friend from jumping into a situation which he could possibly end up coming out of with a broken nose.

Merlin shook his head and ignored her suggestion. They had reached the area where the incident was occurring at this point. A circle had formed around the perimeter and there was a small group of students laughing at the boy, although most students were walking passed with their heads determinedly bent and pretending it wasn't happening. Merlin stepped straight into the middle of the circle. Gwen squeaked again and slipped in after him, biting her lip and tugging on his hand.

"Merlin, please don't," she whispered into the silence that fell after Merlin's actions.

He continued to ignore her; instead he straightened to his full height and said in his most authoritive tone, "Hey! That's enough. You've had your fun, now leave him alone."

Arthur was staring at Merlin with wide eyes; Merlin was slightly miffed that he was also looking at him like he was an idiot. However, Merlin was glad that the blonde wasn't looking at him like his friend's were – they sort of looked like they wanted Merlin's blood. Merlin spared a second to think how decidedly _bad_ it would be if his blood left his body before one of Arthur's minions said, "Who are you?"

The dark haired boy shuffled then replied, "Merlin, I'm sort of new."

"So you're a nobody then," another one of the boys said. The young Year 7 had retrieved his bag and scurried away relatively unscathed, at least some good had come from Merlin making a fool of himself.

"No, my name is Merlin and I am definitely a somebody," Merlin told them.

"You have right big ears," a ripple of laughter followed this comment and Merlin felt himself blush.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Merlin demanded.

"Let's go Merlin," Gwen whispered behind him, grabbing his wrist and tugging lightly. "Please! You've made your point."

The temptation to concede to his friend's point and go with her was compelling, but before he had a chance to dismiss himself and politely and bravely flee the same boy who had spoken earlier said, "Isn't that that boy that you had that fight with Arthur?"

Merlin blinked. Partly because he was amazed at how someone could get so many 'that's into a sentence and partly because he was confused at how they had remembered what he looked like. He glanced over to Arthur to see his reaction, curious despite himself. His reply would answer the question as to why Arthur had been at Merlin's detention last night – did he genuinely like Merlin or was he just being cruel?

Arthur stared at Merlin for a moment before he looked away with distaste. "It is."

Well that hadn't really answered anything. How was Merlin supposed to analyse the inner meanings of 'it is'? He couldn't have at least tried to think of a better reply, could he?

For a strange reason, Arthur's friend's seemed to find his short reply funny. They laughed loudly and then said to Merlin, "You idiot! Why should we listen to you? You can't tell us what to do. You ain't nothing but a deprived scholarship kid."

Merlin winced at their poor English and then blushed at their mocking words. So he and his mother didn't have a lot of money, big deal. This announcement was followed by a murmur from the crowd that had gathered around them – Merlin glanced around to see them all assessing him like he was an object, not a very satisfactory object either. A hailstorm of catcalls started and Merlin turned pleading eyes to Arthur; he had more than enough power in the school to get them all to shut up.

"Get them to stop it," he called beseechingly.

Arthur raised his eyebrows as the calls died down. The blonde's followers looked at him expectantly. "Why would I do that? I don't care what they do to you."

Merlin reeled at the verbal blow. What the hell? _That definitely answers my question then;_ he thought fiercely, _he's an asshole, most certainly an asshole. _"Fine," he said aloud and was about to start on his own vocal tyrant when Morgana appeared out of nowhere. She looked petrifying in her ethereal beauty. Long black hair tied back in a severe bun and her face was pale and gorgeous. She was wearing a high-waist pencil skirt and a navy blue blouse. Morgana was Arthur's adopted sister and Gwen's best friend. When they had first met Merlin had been terrified, but he had come to learn that was actually very kind in a feministic sort of way.

"What's going on here?" she demanded sending the group of students who had gathered to watch scarpering away.

"Merlin's being an idiot because Arthur's being a dick," Gwen supplied when it became obvious that no one else was going to reply.

Arthur snorted, "Hardly." as Merlin called, "Hey!"

"It's true," Gwen defended in the face of Merlin's angry scowl.

"It's not," Merlin retorted.

"Whatever," cut in Morgana. "I don't care, just stop it."

"Of course Morgana," Lancelot simpered in the dark haired girl's direction. "We're sorry we caused all this commotion and I assure you it won't happen again." Even though he hadn't been involved at all, he still looked remorseful. Gwen stared at him in wonder.

"That's alright Lance," Morgana smiled sweetly.

The whole situation was proving to make Merlin angrier rather than calm him, which he was sure had been Morgana's intentions when she had interceded. It seemed that everyone was deciding to pretend to be best buddies now that the boy had run away and Morgana was here, but Merlin was furious. Arthur had helped him yesterday only to be horrible to him today and Merlin was confused and angry and all he really wanted to do right now was to scream at the frustratingly attractive blonde, who seemed adamant to make his life hell and cause Merlin to have the hugest crush ever since he was eight and giving girls dandelions in the playground.

"You're a prat!" he told Arthur.

The prat looked at him with wide, confused eyes. "What the hell?"

"Why are you asking me what the hell? I think it should be the other way around," Merlin replied.

"You just called me a prat."

"That's because you are one."

"So? You're an idiot and you don't see me wondering around yelling it at you."

"I really don't like you," Merlin snarled.

"Well I'm not a big fan of you either."

"Fuck you!" It was typical of Merlin's luck that just at that moment a teacher popped up.

"Emrys!" she screeched, the heels of her undeniably expensive shoes clacking against the floor as she came towards him.

Merlin sighed. _Here we go again._ "How can I help you Mrs Spencer?" he turned slowly towards the woman as she approached their group.

"What did you just say to Mr Pendragon?" she demanded.

"I told him to go away in the most polite way I could think of and was capable of at the time, is that a problem?" he asked innocently.

She scowled at him. "I don't like your attitude."

"I don't think it's my attitude that you have a problem with, Miss. I think it's my sense of humour."

"I don't care what it was I don't like it!" She wagged a manicured finger at him and said, "I hope you didn't have anything planned for tonight because now you have a detention."

Merlin's jaw dropped. "What?" he exclaimed. "Well, fine. Yeah, ok...whatever. But if you're going to give me a detention then you have to give that lot a detention too," he said indicating Arthur and the group who had been picking on the Year 7, "They were bullying a younger student, that's hardly fair is it?"

Mrs Spencer turned to Arthur, "Is this boy bothering you Mr Pendragon?"

Arthur was staring at Merlin, his expression a mixture of shock, confusion and something strangely close to guilt. "Not really," he shrugged.

The teacher was taken aback. "Well you still have a detention Emrys," she clacked away while calling to the hall at large, "Get to lessons!"

Merlin glared at Arthur and then pushed past him and his 'friends'. Morgana and Gwen followed after him while sharing a look. "Thanks a lot," he muttered murderously to Arthur as he passed. Oddly, Arthur's eyes remained fixed on Merlin until he had disappeared down the corridor.

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Thanks for reading! Comments are love 3


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** COD (Centre of Detention) Chapter 3

**Author:** topperchar

**Characters:** Merlin/Arthur (various OCs and canon characters)

**Rating:** NC-17

**Word Count:** 2,855

**Summary: **In Merlin's opinion, Arthur Pendragon is a complete prat. Isn't it odd how quickly and wholly a person's opinion can change? A tale of how a few detentions, a couple of arguments and a kiss can change your life. High school AU

**Warnings: **Naughty language, tiny bit of blaspheming. The rating is for the language not anything else.

**A/N:** You lucky devils, I'm updating early because I'm feeling nice. This was going to be up in about three days, but because I am such a lovely person it's early! Yay! Again, thank you all the gorgeous people who commented on my last chapter. You left some great comments, so thank you! This chapter is a smidgen longer than the last ones; I'm hoping that that is a good thing and not a bad thing. Arthur is still being a bit of a bum, sorry about that. He'll get better soon! No fear! I apologise to anyone who thinks my characters are dreadfully OOC, Merlin is a little bit. So, you know, sorry! Hope you like!

**Disclaimer:** All characters are the property of the BBC. Everything else is the product of my odd mind. Enjoy!

* * *

"Now Emrys..." Mr Baxter started on his rebuke and Merlin instantly tuned him out. He was sitting in the detention hall (again) on an uncomfortable plastic chair (again) in front of a solid wooden table (again) with three sheets of paper in front of him (again) and Mr Baxter giving him a speech about his behaviour (again). He tapped his pen against the table irritably. It had been nearly six hours since he had last seen Arthur and he was still angry at him.

"You will write a letter of apology to Mr Pendragon-" these words made it through Merlin's catatonic state.

"What?" he snapped and whipped his head up to glower at Mr Baxter so fast that his neck cricked. Merlin winced and bought a hand up to rub at the spot while demanding, "I'm going to what?"

The head teacher looked taken aback by Merlin's snarling tone. "You are going to write a letter to Mr Pendragon-" he was cut off again, this time by a snort from Merlin.

"No I am not," the dark haired boy told him as he started tapping his pen against the surface again.

"I think you'll find you are."

"I think you'll find I'm not."

"Listen here Emrys-" Mr Baxter started, but was stopped by Merlin flicking his pen at him. He had to duck out of the way to ensure that the projectile didn't bounce of his head. Merlin raised his eyebrows; he really hadn't thought his aim was that good, but apparently when he was angry it improved a lot. "How dare you?" Mr Baxter thundered.

Merlin shrugged, "It was only a pen. I think you're overreacting. It wasn't like I threw a grenade at you or something, it wouldn't have hurt that much if it had hit you. There was no need for you to jump out of the way so dramatically."

Mr Baxter's face turned a sickening puce.

"Are you alright sir?" Merlin asked innocently. "You look a little ill. Perhaps you should go and see matron."

Mr Baxter turned and stomped out of the room, calling over his shoulder to Merlin just before he left, "I will be informing your Uncle of this Emrys."

"I will be informing your Uncle of this Emrys," Merlin mimicked in a whiny tone under his breath as the door banged shut and he was left alone. He sighed. Ok, maybe it had been a little over-the-top to throw a pen at the head teacher, but Merlin was just so angry. Every time he so much as thought of the stupid-blonde-prat's name he had the sudden urge to hit something. And Mr Baxter did call him by his last name while simpering about how he really should write a letter to 'Mr Pendragon'. What was he supposed to do? The pen had been the only thing in his hand. So maybe it would have been better if he had scrunched up some paper and thrown that at him, but it was a spur of the moment thing he hadn't had a chance to think about it.

Merlin sighed again and gazed at his pen on the floor. He probably should go and pick it up, but he couldn't be bothered and there was no way he was going to write a letter of apology to Arthur after what he had done, no matter how much trouble it would cause him.

"Stupid blonde prat," Merlin muttered under his breath. "Hate him, hate him, hate him."

"Now that's no way to talk about someone who helped you, is it?" came the stupid blonde prat's voice from behind Merlin.

Merlin swivelled round in his chair and stared at him. Arthur was sitting on a table near the back of the hall. When Merlin's eye lighted on him, he slid off and walked forward. His bag swung by his side, blazer slung over the top, and his tie and top button were undone revealing a tempting triangle of skin. Merlin looked forcibly away.

Before he had a chance to say anything Arthur had picked up his pen and placed it back on his table then slotted himself into the same chair he had been occupying the day before. "I thought I taught you how to write a letter of apology yesterday, shouldn't you be an expert?" he asked with a smug smirk.

"Go away," Merlin said tightly. He was having trouble trying to contain the urge to shout at him and tell him how much of a complete and utter arse he was.

"Someone's a bit grumpy," Arthur was undeterred, he just kept smiling. "Do you want me to help you again?"

"No I do not want you to help me again," Merlin told him angrily while trying desperately to silence the small part of him that said 'Yes, help away. Please do!'

The blonde frowned then. "Are you angry at me?"

Merlin felt his jaw drop and his eyes widen. He probably looked like a fish, but he didn't really care at the moment. "I cannot actually believe you even need to ask me that question," he exclaimed as he continued to gape.

"Don't do that Merlin, you look like a fish." Merlin shut his mouth and scowled. "Why are you mad at me?"

"Why am I mad at you?" Merlin repeated slowly, staring at Arthur in amazement. "Why don't you guess?" he said sarcastically.

Arthur's frown remained and he opened and closed his mouth in confusion. _Ha, _Merlin thought triumphantly, _now who looks like the fish?_"I don't know why you would be angry at me."

Merlin stared at him blankly. "You are an idiot," he stated.

Arthur raised his eyebrows and smirked.

"Why are you smirking? I just insulted you," Merlin asked in disbelief.

The blonde shrugged, "We seem to have the same opinion about each other."

"I'm not an idiot."

"Well..."

"You can't even figure out why I would be angry at you," Merlin said indignantly.

He shrugged again, "So tell me."

"I shouldn't have to tell you," Merlin whined.

Arthur started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Could you actually be any more of a girl if you tried?" Arthur laughed some more.

Merlin frowned. "I sincerely dislike you."

"Sure you do. Now tell me why you're angry at me," Arthur returned cockily and expectantly.

"You were being mean to that little boy," the dark haired boy said. "Why? I bet he hadn't done anything to you."

Arthur stared at Merlin, his eyes wide and slightly shocked. "I wasn't being mean to him."

"What do you mean you weren't being mean to him?" Merlin demanded.

"I wasn't doing anything. It was my friend's who were picking on him, not me," Arthur replied flatly.

"But you weren't trying to stop them," Merlin argued.

Arthur shrugged for the third time and that action was really beginning to get on Merlin's nerves. "So?"

"So? _So? _What do you mean so?" his hands flailed around and he nearly fell off his chair in his annoyance.

"Should I have stopped them?" the thing that really got to Merlin was that Arthur actually sounded sincere when he asked that question.

Merlin stared at him sceptically. He had to be joking. "Are you seriously asking me that?"

"You know you look really cute when you're angry. You get this little line in-between your eyebrows and your skin goes all flushed," Arthur said indicating at the 'little line' with a finger.

Merlin blushed; he could feel the colour rising up his neck. _Damn him!_

"And apparently you blush when you're embarrassed as well," Arthur commented cheerfully.

He looked down at his blank paper. "Shut up," he mumbled to the table.

"You kind of look cute all the time actually," Arthur leant forward and Merlin could feel his breath on his face, which was so not fair and clearly some kind of evil diverting enemy tactic. He looked up at Arthur – had his eyes always been such a startling blue? – who just smiled and flicked Merlin's hair away from his forehead.

Merlin quickly averted his gaze. He went back to staring at the blank sheets of paper as he said quietly, "Stop trying to distract me."

Arthur smirked and moved away again. Pushing his chair back so that it was balanced on two legs, he replied, "What am I distracting you from?"

"My point," the dark haired boy snapped back.

"What point?"

"The point that you should have stopped your friends from bullying that boy...and me," the last part was spoken softly and almost as an afterthought like he hadn't really wanted Arthur to hear at all.

But of course, because Arthur was a prat, he heard. "When were they bullying you?"

Merlin snorted. "Did you miss that part? They said I was an idiot and deprived and had big ears."

"But you do have big ears," Arthur said insensitively.

Merlin bristled and asked angrily, "Do you feel normal human emotions?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The other boy just shook his head. "You are an insensitive arse."

"I am?"

"Yes, you are."

"Is that bad?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you like me really," Arthur was smiling that annoyingly beautiful smile when Merlin span round to stare at him. "You just don't want to admit it. Besides," the blonde came forward again as if he was confiding a deep secret to him, "I'm irresistible."

"I believe my initial description of a prat is more apt actually," Merlin replied dryly, trying to convince himself that he was so not affected by Arthur's closeness – not at all, not even slightly.

Arthur shrugged. "Suit yourself."

They sat in silence for a few minutes; Merlin resolutely _not_ looking at Arthur – he had promised himself that he would not even speak to the prat for the rest of the detention – and Arthur staring at the side of Merlin's head. The time ticked by and Merlin prayed for the hour to end when he lost all resolution and started speaking again.

"Don't you ever feel guilty?" he asked curiously.

"About what?" Arthur answered with a question of his own, his face the perfect picture of confusion.

"About how people are treated? You could stop it all and you know you could and yet you never even try."

The blonde frowned and tilted his head to the side slightly. He continued staring at Merlin in bewilderment. "It... never occurred to me. To stop it, I mean," Arthur said after a moment.

"Really?" Merlin asked in shock.

Arthur nodded and pulled Merlin's pen towards him. He twirled it between his fingers as he had done the night before. Merlin didn't pull it away from him this time. "When I was younger I was always taught to disregard others feelings," he shrugged, but Merlin could tell that he had never confided this in anyone else before – he felt oddly... honoured.

"Why not? Did your mother never teach you not to hurt others and not to pull girls pigtails and all that stuff?" As much as Merlin really didn't want to speak to Arthur and was still furious at him for his earlier behaviour he couldn't help but be drawn to him.

"My mother died giving birth to me," Arthur stated blankly.

Merlin gasped and put his hand on Arthur's without thinking. "Arthur, I'm sorry I didn't know. I wouldn't have..." Merlin trailed off. Arthur was staring at him again. His blue eyes seemed to be burning with something. A desire, so strong it left Merlin breathless.

"Why would you have known?" His voice was barely above a whisper and it made Merlin's stomach stir. His heart twisted sharply and he pulled his hand back as though he had been burnt. The moment was broken and Arthur was smiling his sharp-toothed smile before Merlin really had a chance to regain his composure. "Do you want to play eye spy?"

"Excuse me?"

"Do you want to play eye spy?" Arthur repeated.

"When did you turn into a twelve year old girl?" Merlin asked.

The other boy glared. "I thought you'd appreciate it, seen as _you_ are the twelve year old girl. I was going to sacrifice my offers of superior manly games so that you could play what you would undoubtedly enjoy, but if you'd rather not then that's fine," Arthur looked away haughtily.

And really when Arthur was acting like that how was anyone supposed to keep their laughter contained? His laughter eventually subsided into giggles (which were not really giggles because contrary to what the prat said he wasn't actually a twelve year old girl) and Merlin blushed when he noticed Arthur was staring at him. "Why are you staring at me?"

The blonde shrugged. His face was lit with a large grin, which brightened his entire demeanour and made him seem a little less like he was about to eat someone. "You're smiling. You haven't smiled at all the whole time I've been here," Arthur told him. "You look nice when you smile."

Merlin's blush deepened – he ignored it. "I could say the same for you." this time when he muttered the words he didn't want Arthur to hear, he ensured that they were low enough so that Arthur wouldn't actually hear them because he was clearly a vampire who had ridiculously super-sonic hearing or something. Merlin was suddenly struck with the thought of Arthur as Edward out of Twilight (and Merlin was Bella). He would have made a much better Edward than that silly Robert Pattinson fellow; not that Merlin read stuff like that, he _really_ wasn't a twelve year old girl after all.

"You think I should have defended that boy then?" Arthur asked suddenly, his expression was thoughtful.

Merlin could hardly believe that something he had said seemed to be having an effect on Arthur bloody Pendragon! He nodded enthusiastically and said sanctimoniously, "True evil is when a few good men do nothing."

Arthur smirked at him.

"You're not supposed to smirk, you're supposed to be moved," Merlin told him sourly.

Arthur just continued to smirk.

The dark haired boy sighed. "Why are you smirking?" he asked long-sufferingly.

"You think I'm a good man."

"I didn't say that," Merlin replied.

"But you said evil was when a few _good men_ do nothing and you're trying to convince me to do something. So technically, you called me a good man."

"You're missing the point," Merlin whined.

The inane smiling carried on anyway. It was then that the heavy footfalls of someone started, gradually increasing in volume as they came closer. Merlin glanced around to see Mr Baxter enter the hall. He stopped short at the sight of Arthur.

Arthur, who had also turned when he had seen Merlin look, nodded his head at the teacher. "Sir."

"Mr Pendragon. You're here," Mr Baxter stated dumbly as he started towards them again, his steps were a lot less resolute than they had been before.

"I am," Arthur acknowledged.

"Has Emrys written and handed over his letter of apology already?" The teacher smirked and looked down at Merlin.

The dark haired boy opened his mouth, an excuse was already forming on the tip of his tongue, but Arthur interrupted, "He gave his apology personally."

"What-" Mr Baxter began.

Arthur cut him off. "He spoke it."

A shadow of understanding passed across Mr Baxter's features. "Ah, I see." He glanced at Merlin. "Your Uncle knows about your recent behaviour and treatment of staff Emrys. I suggest you stop or else you will just find yourself back in detention again."

Merlin nodded sharply.

"You may go," Mr Baxter dismissed.

He had jumped up before the teacher had finished speaking, but before he could run from the room Arthur caught his wrist. Merlin turned questioning eyes on him.

"Let's walk out together this time, yeah?" Arthur suggested with a small smile.

Merlin could do nothing but agree.

It was only when they were back in the same place they had been yesterday that Merlin really started registering what was going on. "Why are you so nice to me here?" he asked Arthur sincerely.

"What?" Arthur asked with laughter in his voice.

Merlin didn't laugh. "Why do you speak to me here, but not during school time?"

The blonde frowned at Merlin in confusion. "Do you not want me to speak to you?"

"I do!" Merlin quickly amended and then berated himself at how desperate he probably sounded. "It's not that. It's just... you're so nice to me here, but you are a totally different person during school. You never speak to me at school, but you refuse to leave me alone here. Why?"

The frown remained as Arthur asked, "Why would I speak to you at school?"

Merlin blanched. Why was Arthur so confusing? His head was starting to hurt. "You know what? I don't even care. Whatever." Merlin turned on his heel and marched away.

"Wait, Merlin!" Arthur called.

He was ignored as Merlin just kept on walking. Merlin vowed to himself that he would not get into any more detentions for the rest of the week, if only to keep Arthur away form him. _Stupid Prat!_

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Thank you for reading! Comments are love 3


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** COD (Centre of Detention) Chapter 4

**Author:** topperchar

**Characters:** Merlin/Arthur, very small amounts of Gwen/Lancelot and Morgana/Leon, and various OCs and other canon characters.

**Rating:** NC-17

**Word Count:** 4,003

**Summary: **In Merlin's opinion, Arthur Pendragon is a complete prat. Isn't it odd how quickly and wholly a person's opinion can change? A tale of how a few detentions, a couple of arguments and a kiss can change your life. High school AU

**Warnings: **Naughty language, tiny bit of blaspheming. The rating is for the language not anything else.

**A/N:** Oh my gosh, this chapter is HUGE (well, ok not huge, but bigger than the other parts)! It exploded – it was messy. So no complaining about the shortness of the part, agreed? Good, but of course you can complain if you want because it makes me feel fuzzy feelings about how people enjoy my fics a lot. So complain away – don't let me stop you. Again, thank you all the fantastic people who commented on my last chapter. You left some lovely comments, so thank you! I know that in most schools you have registration first (or at least we do in my school) but I didn't want to write it, so we just skipped straight to the first lesson. Ok? Ok! So I hope you enjoy this part.

**Disclaimer:** All characters are the property of the BBC. Everything else is the product of my odd mind. Enjoy!

* * *

The next day, Merlin was wandering up the steps again with Gwen; this time he was listening to her jabber on about her new obsession – Lancelot DuLuc. Apparently, he had the most beautiful brown eyes and he was a total dear, but Merlin tuned out long ago and was just nodding at appropriate times. His mind was elsewhere...

In truth, he was thinking about Arthur, which wasn't really a surprise at all because the stupid prat seemed to have taken up residence in Merlin's head and if he wasn't thinking about him then he was speaking to him and that was just as irritating as thinking about him. He resolutely shook his head, trying – in vain – to dislodge mini-Arthur. The blonde miniature held on tighter. Merlin groaned and pressed his hands to the side of his head.

"Merlin?" Gwen asked, concern tainting her voice. "Are you all right?" One of her hands crept onto his arm and squeezed lightly.

He dropped his hands from the side of his head. "I'm fine," he told her. Mini-Arthur would just have to stay there until he saw the real thing, at which point he would give back the tiny-mind-version of Arthur. Hopefully, that would stop him from having such odd thoughts... and dreams.

Gwen seemed to realise that Merlin wasn't listening to her talk about Arthur's friend and so stopped her discussion. An awkward silence fell between them; Merlin couldn't help but blame himself for this. However, his thoughts didn't stay on his guilt for long. They travelled onto Arthur who was a total and utter prat and Merlin really shouldn't be thinking of him at all, but he couldn't seem to stop. And so when Merlin tripped over his own feet and landed in a sprawling heap on the linoleum floor with the entire contents of his bag spread out around him, he really shouldn't have been surprised.

"Merlin!" His name wasn't a question this time, it was an exclamation. His friend dropped down beside him and Gwen started up a stream of words. "Are you all right? Is anything broken? Oh Merlin, your bag. All of your stuff is everywhere. Everyone's looking at you. I think some of them laughing, but I'm sure they're not laughing at you. I mean, they could be laughing at anything, right? Are you sure you're ok?" Her hands flapped uselessly an inch above Merlin's body – desperate to touch, but too scared in case she hurt him.

The dark haired boy brushed her away. "I'm fine," he muttered, finding himself repeating his earlier words. He yanked his bag towards him and began stuffing his things back into it. It was then that he noticed the laughter had stopped. Merlin lifted his head, glancing around at everyone; they were all pretending not to look at him. Something caught his eye. Someone was helping him; they were scooping up the contents of his bag that had landed furthest away. Then they rose and Merlin saw their face and...

It was Arthur. Arthur Pendragon.

He walked towards Merlin with a smile and a collection of Merlin's things: pen, English book, ridiculous flowery, unicorn covered, and emasculatingly colourful rainbow notebook that his mother had bought him before he left, planner, and a tattered copy of The Woman in White. They were all dropped into Merlin's bag apart from the novel. Arthur held this up to the light and inspected it then handed it to Merlin and grinned. "Never would have penned you as a gothic horror kind of boy."

Merlin blinked up at him. "Er..." he said intelligently.

Arthur just kept on smiling and held out his hand. Totally in shock, Merlin took it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. He ignored Gwen, who he could see gaping at them.

His hand was released and Arthur's own were shoved into his pockets in – what appeared to be – embarrassment. "Have you finished reading it?" he asked randomly.

Merlin nodded, still incapable of speech.

The sharp-toothed smile returned to Arthur's lips. "It's good isn't it?"

"You've read it?" Merlin was shocked into speaking.

The blonde shrugged. "A couple of times."

"Really?"

"Really." Arthur's smile slid off his face and he flicked the cover of the novel that was still in Merlin's hands. "It's one of my favourites," he added quietly.

"Really?" Merlin choked out. He could feel his eyes widening, but seemed to be paralysed in astonishment.

Arthur grinned. "Really," he repeated. He took in Merlin's wide eyes and clear disbelief. "What? Did you not have me penned for gothic horror either?" he asked teasingly.

"I didn't have you penned for someone who read actually," Merlin replied.

A laugh was his only answer. Arthur stared at him. Merlin stared back.

"Arthur?" Morgana's voice cut through their staring contest and Merlin jumped back like he'd been caught doing something dreadful. Arthur's step-sister was looking as terrifying as ever, her hair swung loosely around her shoulders. She glanced between the two of them in confusion. "Was he annoying you Merlin?"

"Um...well," Merlin had to clear his throat where the words stuck. When he answered he was shocked at the truth that his reply held. "Not really," he supplied unhelpfully.

Morgana frowned at Merlin searchingly, but found nothing there. She turned to Arthur and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Arthur shrugged. "Nothing," he replied. "I'll see you later." He sent Merlin a quick smile before darting away.

"What was that all about?" Morgana asked as she came to stand beside Merlin. Gwen skipped over as well.

"Um..." Merlin didn't really know the answer to that question. It wasn't until Morgana elbowed him in the ribs that he realised he had been staring after Arthur. He turned to his friend and she raised her eyebrows. Merlin ignored her.

"He helped you," Gwen stated as though it wasn't obvious enough.

"I am aware, thank you Gwen," Merlin replied uncomfortably. Shuffling his feet, he pretended he couldn't hear the two girls giggling at his misfortune.

Thankfully, Morgana changed the subject. "Anyway, what happened in your detention yesterday?"

Merlin scowled. "Arthur was annoying and pratly, as per usual."

"Arthur was there?" Morgana asked, shocked. "Again?"

"Yes," he replied. "Is that out of the ordinary? Because if it is, then he sure seems to be doing it a lot lately."

"Well..." Morgana trailed off and shared a knowing glance with Gwen.

"Well...?" Merlin prompted, when it became clear that neither of them where going to supply any more than that one word. What the hell was 'well' supposed to mean anyway?

Gwen cleared her throat. "Arthur isn't normally so..."

"Thorough," Morgana finished.

"Thorough?" Merlin repeated and really that was even more confusing than well.

"It looks like he's taken a liking to you," Morgana said grinning at Gwen, who – annoyingly – returned the gesture.

Merlin snorted. "He clearly hasn't. Were you not here yesterday?" he asked sarcastically.

"Arthur isn't very good with feelings and he was probably trying to show off for his friends."

"He's an arse," the dark haired boy replied.

"His personality may be a little mulish, but he's really hot so that sort of makes up for it," Gwen interjected. Then she proceeded to look mortified at the words she had just spoken. "I can't believe I just said that," she choked out as Merlin and Morgana dissolved into laughter.

"He's a creepy stalker. Seriously, he is refusing to leave me alone!" Merlin wailed after he had recovered from his laughing fit.

Morgana patted his cheek affectionately. "You know you love it really."

"No, I really don't."

"Yes, you really do," Gwen joined the onslaught, which was monumentally unfair.

"We should get to lessons," The other girl chirped happily as the bell sounded.

Merlin sighed and allowed himself to be dragged away by his 'friends' – drama, joy.

* * *

Drama was a great lesson, but sometimes it was one of Merlin's least favourite. For clumsy people, standing in front of a crowd of people, who are waiting (like bloody vultures!) for you to make a fool of yourself, was never good. Merlin knew this because he was one of those inherently clumsy people. He loved the acting; taking on a different role was exhilarating and he found it fascinating to experiment with how other people would react to situations. But that was in the comfort of his own corner of the room with his friends – not in front of the entire class.

Like now, Merlin was standing in front of everyone about to perform something that he would undoubtedly be ridiculed about for the rest of his school life, which – if this performance went the way he expected it would – wasn't going to be long. Merlin felt his knees go slightly weak; he was going to die...

When they had entered the hall and Miss Horne – the young, hippy teacher who Merlin swore was having an affair with Mr Brown – smiled at them all and told them to get into pairs preferably a boy and girl, Merlin let out a sigh of relief. He would be able to go with either Morgana or Gwen. However, as he turned to his friend's, the question of who would go with whom on the tip of his tongue, he was yanked back by a particularly annoying blonde.

"We'll go together, yeah?" Arthur had said.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Did you not hear her tell us that the parings had to be girl and boy?"

He received the sharp-toothed smile that was beginning to become Arthur's trademark in return. "She said 'preferably'. Besides, you can be the girl."

Merlin spluttered in indignation, but when he turned back to Gwen and Morgana he found that they already had partners. Gwen was drooling over Lance's 'beautiful brown eyes' and Morgana was flirting shamelessly with Leon, who was gradually turning a bright shade of red. Merlin growled – his friend's were traitors.

Arthur swung a comradely arm round Merlin's shoulders. "Looks like you're with me sunshine."

Merlin groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "Why are you so confusing? Your stupid mood-swings are giving me migraines."

Unsurprisingly, Arthur just laughed and didn't give Merlin a response that he could use to replace the hate which was quickly receding. _Stupid prat,_ he thought bitterly. Why did he have to be such an arse and then go and act so _nice_ and make Merlin feel like the arse?

"Is everyone in pairs?" rang Miss Horne's voice through the bubbling group of students. "Great! Now we will be doing some Shakespeare today; the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. Isn't that exciting?" She clapped her hands enthusiastically and beamed at them all. They stared back. "Well? Go on then! You have half an hour to prepare and then we will see some of them at the end."

Merlin swayed on his feet. Had she just said they were doing Romeo and Juliet? She had, hadn't she? And he was in a pair with Arthur; well wasn't today just turning out to be spectacular?

Weirdly, Arthur turned to Merlin and smiled. He _smiled_. Like he was actually _happy_ that they were doing a scene from Romeo and Juliet. Freak. He clapped his hands together in a bizarre imitation of Miss Horne and said, "So, Juliet, where do you want to start?"

And that was how Merlin had come to be standing in front of his class with Arthur beside him about to act out a scene from Romeo and Juliet. With Arthur. And he was Juliet. His social life was officially over.

"Whenever you're ready boys," Miss Horne said cheerfully. Of course, when she had found out that two boys were together and were going to be acting out the scene, she had insisted upon them performing. She wanted to see their _interpretation _and their _interactions _and a jumble of other ridiculous drama-ry words that Merlin didn't really understand – she was clearly an undercover fan girl.

Merlin sighed and prepared himself for his social suicide. Arthur cleared his throat from where he was kneeling down on the step below Merlin; attempting to give the impression that Merlin was on a balcony, but actually only succeeding in making it look like he was about to propose. A wave of sniggers shivered across the students. They were silenced by a furious hush – it sounded like Morgana.

Then Arthur began and damn him, he was good! "O that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek!" Arthur stood and Merlin took his cue.

"Ay me." This was the most embarrassing thing Merlin had ever done in his entire life and everyone was staring at him. Why had he had to be Juliet? Why? And just when he thought Arthur was turning out to be a relatively decent human being.

The blonde delivered his lines perfectly and came forward a step. And now Merlin had to say the dreaded lines – the lines that were some of the best known in all the world. He took a breath and forced his audience to melt away. Then he started speaking, "O Romeo, Romeo! – Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet." Arthur cut in with his line; his eyes were a smouldering blue – he looked so sincere. He took another step forward and Merlin continued. "'Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What's Montague? It is nor hand nor foot nor arm nor face..." Merlin paused and blushed, looking down he continued, "Nor any other part belonging to a man." When he looked back up, Arthur was grinning.

Arthur stepped up onto the same level as Merlin when the words that revealed Romeo to Juliet were spoken. Merlin felt like prey; he felt like Arthur was hunting him and he had a sinking feeling that he was allowing himself to be caught. The scene continued until Arthur said in the most suggestive way that Merlin had ever heard the words spoken, "O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?"

"What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?" Merlin replied indignantly, stepping away from him. Another round of snickers spread across their classmates. This time they were hushed by both Morgana and Miss Horne.

The blonde smirked at his drama partner. The scene continued again, Arthur getting closer and closer until eventually he just randomly took Merlin's hand in his. Merlin nearly jumped from the contact, but he managed to stay grounded. Arthur's skin was unexpectedly soft and the way he cradled Merlin's hand in his own sent thrills down his spine. _Ignore it; it's all part of the scene, all part of the scene – not real! _Merlin told himself sternly.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow," finally the scene was coming to an end as Merlin said those words, "That I shall say goodnight until it be morrow." Arthur slipped forward another two inches and Merlin could feel the body heat radiating off of him, Arthur's breath on his face. The blue eyes flicked down to Merlin's lips briefly and for one terrifyingly brilliant moment, Merlin thought Arthur was going to kiss him.

Then the moment was broken. Miss Horne had jumped up and was clapping loudly. "Bravo! Bravo! Oh, that was brilliant boys! You're naturals; you should be on the stage, both of you! Absolutely fantastic. You tackled those roles so well and the chemistry between you! It was tangible! Spectacular! Really, really spectacular! You will have to work together in future lessons," she gushed with what looked suspiciously like tears in her eyes.

Arthur grinned recklessly at Merlin. "Looks like you're stuck with me now," he said.

Merlin groaned and they made their way back to their seats as another pair was called up to perform. Miss Horne gave them a thumbs-up when they passed.

* * *

Merlin stumbled into the canteen and quickly located Morgana and Gwen. He ignored the laughter that followed him and his stumble – at least no one had mentioned anything about his performance of Juliet yet.

He greeted and slid in next to his friend's who immediately pulled him into their conversation. Merlin listened, politely nodding at all the right places, but he desperately wanted to talk to them about the weird and wondrous workings of Arthur's mind. The boy had become an even bigger stalker than before. Not that Merlin didn't like the fact that Arthur spoke to him at school (he really did, people laughed at him a lot less and it was nice to see that Arthur had figured out that he should talk to Merlin in school as well as out of school), but it would be better if he actually understood why Arthur was doing what he was doing, which he didn't – at all. The thing was that Arthur was confusing and Merlin wanted to figure him out. He liked solving puzzles and Arthur was, most certainly, a riddle.

Hence the reason that he wanted to talk to Morgana and Gwen. Morgana had grown up with the boy and Gwen had known him for about seven years through association of Morgana, which suggested that both girls would have an idea of how the hell Arthur's mind worked and Merlin was planning on finding that out. However, before Merlin could ask any questions, their table was invaded.

Arthur, Leon and Lance descended on them. "Hi!" Arthur said cheerfully. "We're going to sit with you, hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," Morgana said eyeing up Leon as Gwen squeaked, "Of course." and Merlin very determinedly did _not _scream like a girl.

"You just screamed," Arthur told Merlin then he slipped into a seat beside him. "Like a girl," he continued with an evil grin.

Merlin snorted. "No I didn't."

"Well, actually... you sort of did," Gwen said.

Merlin glared at her.

"Oh, right. Sorry! No, you didn't sound like a girl – not at all." She sent Merlin an apologetic smile before she moved all her attention onto Lance, who was staring at her with googly eyes. Morgana looked about ready to stick her tongue down Leon's throat..._oh God_... Merlin narrowed his eyes at his friends, so much for support. It was at times like these that he really missed Will.

The dark haired boy tried his best to ignore the blonde next to him, but it was very difficult when he wouldn't stop speaking to him! "What lesson did you just have?" Arthur asked, sounding like Merlin's answer was the most important thing in the world – it was strangely... nice.

"Maths," Merlin answered shortly. He feigned disinterest, instead focusing intently on his sandwich.

Arthur shuffled closer anyway. He clearly didn't have any conception of personal space. "Really? I dropped Maths; it was horrible. I just had History."

Merlin rolled his eyes and sarcastically replied, "Fascinating."

"It was actually." Annoyingly (and predictably), Arthur was undeterred.

Merlin's pathetic attempt to suppress his growl went unnoticed by Arthur who started up a running commentary about his lesson. The dark haired boy groaned and dropped his head onto the table. Arthur flicked his ear.

"Leave me alone," Merlin whined.

Arthur ignored his protest and said, "What are you doing after school?"

"Going home," he replied bluntly.

"Anything else?"

"No." If Merlin's replies got any shorter he'd stop answering altogether.

"Good," Merlin could hear the smile in Arthur's voice. "I'll give you a ride home then."

"What?" Merlin demanded. His head lifted so quickly that a brief spell of dizziness nearly caused him to fall off his chair.

Arthur stopped him from catapulting to the ground. "Woah, are you all right?" His arm was round Merlin's waist and he needed to remove it _right now _or Merlin was going to do something drastic.

"Why are you giving me a ride home?" he asked the blonde, ignoring his question.

"Because I want to," the smile was back in Arthur's voice.

"Why?"

"Because."

"That's not an answer," Merlin said folding his arms petulantly.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Just shut up and accept the offer Merlin."

The dark haired boy glared at him suspiciously. "Are you going to kill me and dump my body somewhere?"

"No," Arthur replied in confusion. "Why would I do that?"

"Why would you offer to give me a ride home?" Merlin countered. "You're acting weird."

Arthur shrugged and looked away. "Think of it as an apology."

The suspicion remained in Merlin's expression. "An apology for what?"

"For my behaviour yesterday," Arthur replied. "You're right, the way I treated you was...improper."

Merlin snorted, "That's one way to put it."

Arthur turned to him suddenly. "Look, I'm sorry ok? I know I'm an asshole, but I didn't mean to upset you." He looked awkward for a second. "I can't help how I am, but if you want to be my friend then I can try to change."

His face was so heartbreakingly hopeful that Merlin couldn't find it in him to say no. Instead he said, "Maybe if you didn't make demands all the time you wouldn't be so much of an asshole. You should try asking people things rather than just ordering them around."

Arthur smiled. "I can do that." He shuffled closer and moved his mouth next to Merlin's ear. "Will you _please_ let me give you a lift home?" His breath brushed across Merlin's cheek and down his neck. He shivered involuntarily. Arthur moved back a little and locked his eyes with Merlin's. There was barely an inch between them.

Merlin's stomach was doing somersaults and his throat was too dry to speak. "Ok," he croaked. Arthur smiled his sharp-toothed smile and brushed a finger along Merlin's cheekbone.

"Great," he whispered.

Someone cleared their throat behind them. Merlin jumped as Arthur pulled away. He could feel the flush darkening his cheeks already; Arthur – the prat – looked as composed as ever. Merlin turned in his seat and saw the four other occupants of the table staring at them.

"We were just talking about the music concert," Leon said shuffling uncomfortably, "were either of you thinking of doing anything?"

"Um..." Merlin was still shaken from his close contact with Arthur. His heart was thudding against his chest so hard it hurt and he was practically vibrating with pent up energy. Morgana and Gwen both gave him looks that said 'Oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-you-just-nearly-kissed-Arthur-we-are-so-talking-about-this-later!' He tried to ignore them.

"I wasn't thinking of doing anything and I don't think Merlin has a musical bone in his body," Arthur answered smoothly, clearly unaffected – the bastard.

"Hey!" Merlin exclaimed turning to scowl at the blonde. Arthur just laughed and hooked his fingers into Merlin's belt loop; Merlin snapped his mouth shut in shock.

Lunch continued in pretty much the same fashion: Arthur insulting Merlin, Merlin attempting to defend himself, and Arthur shutting him up with touches that seemed like the most natural thing in the world. It drove Merlin crazy.

When the bell rang the four separated. Lance kissed Gwen's hand and called her "My Lady" which was utterly ridiculous in Merlin's opinion. Morgana kissed Leon, full on the mouth, and that was relatively unsurprising knowing Morgana. And Arthur yelled at Merlin that he'd meet him in the front car park. He tried to pretend that he wasn't disappointed that Arthur hadn't kissed him.

As soon as the three invaders were out of ear shot Morgana and Gwen started pressing Merlin for information. "What the hell?" Morgana had demanded as Gwen had said, "That was a little bit odd, wasn't it?"

Merlin had ignored them both and just dropped his head into his hands with a groan. Honestly, he didn't have a clue what was going on. Arthur was the most confusing human being he had ever met and that didn't look like it was going to change anytime soon. Merlin only wished that Arthur wouldn't have another insane personality change and turn back into Prince Prat of Camelot Academy. All he could do was hope.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Days to write, minutes to comment – please do! - Cool huh? Tell me if you like me new catchy comment-catching catchphrase. Oh, and whether you like the story too :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Title:** COD (Centre of Detention) Chapter 5

**Author:** topperchar

**Characters:** Merlin/Arthur, very small amounts of Gwen/Lancelot and Morgana/Leon, and various OCs and other canon characters.

**Rating:** NC-17

**Word Count: **7,455

**Summary: **In Merlin's opinion, Arthur Pendragon is a complete prat. Isn't it odd how quickly and wholly a person's opinion can change? A tale of how a few detentions, a couple of arguments and a kiss can change your life. High school AU

**Warnings: **Naughty language, tiny bit of blaspheming. The rating is for the language not anything else.

**A/N:** I have no idea what happened, but this part is MASSIVE (yes even bigger than the last chapter) and took me forever to write. I hope it's all right *is dubious*. Please excuse me for all the crazy randomness in this part; I really do not know what happened. I looked at my plan and then I sat down and wrote it along with 4,000 more words that I have no clue where they came from! So, yeah…sorry about that. Ignore the strange girl who appears at the end; my sister begged me to write her into the fic and so I did (because I am a badass sister) and also in payment for her help with this. She has helped me think of a lot of details concerning this and has let me force her into reading every part before posting. So lets all give a cheer for her! Yay Pepsi (that is my nickname for her; she is not actually called Pepsi)! Huge thanks to everyone who commented on my last chapter. You are all lovely people and get cyber-cookies! So I hope you enjoy this part.

**Disclaimer:** All characters are the property of the BBC. Everything else is the product of my odd mind. Enjoy!

* * *

It was when he spotted Arthur – looking for the all the world like a God – leaning against the driver's door of his gorgeous car waiting for him at the front gate that Merlin started to panic.

"Oh my God," Merlin muttered and his steps faltered. Gwen, who was walking beside him, slowed to stand next to her friend. "I don't think I can do this."

"Merlin?" Gwen asked, confusion tainting her voice.

Merlin shook his head. His eyes darted around – maybe if he ran away now then Arthur wouldn't see him and he could pretend that he forgot or that he had to stay after school or... something like that.

"Merlin!" she snapped his name this time.

His gaze landed on her and it was pleading. "I can't!"

"Can't what?" She placed her hands on her hips giving the distinct impression of a mother telling off her son.

"He's driving me home Gwen! Arthur Pendragon is driving me home. Do you not see the immense wrongness about this situation?" Merlin replied.

She rolled her eyes. "No I don't actually."

"But I have to get in a car with him and I think he's going to kill me. You'd feel terrible if you forced me to get in a car with him and then my dead body turned up; you'd feel awful and you'd blame yourself and you'd say 'Oh I wish I had never forced Merlin to get in Arthur's car, if I hadn't then he would still be alive today'," Merlin's mouth was still open as if to continue his tirade when Gwen cut him off.

"You are being a drama queen Merlin. Arthur is a perfectly normal human being and he is not going to kill you," she said slowly.

"He's not normal," Merlin hissed. He hunched over and tried to make himself as small as possible – Arthur wouldn't see him if he kept low, right? He received a few odd looks, but they were worth the possibility that he would survive his journey home.

"He's not going to kill you," Gwen stated. "Besides if he did then he would be doing us all a favour because you are causing more trouble than you're worth at the moment Merlin."

"Hey," Merlin exclaimed, straightening.

Gwen smirked at him and patted his cheek. "He's seen you," she said, mirth shining in her eyes.

"Shit," Merlin ducked back down, but it was too late. Gwen was right, Arthur had seen him.

"Merlin," the blonde called and waved at him.

Merlin grimaced and waved back before turning to his friend and scowling down at her. "You did that on purpose," he accused.

Gwen didn't say anything; she just swung her bag onto her back and walked away. "I'll see you tomorrow Merlin," she called over her shoulder with one of her annoyingly innocent smiles.

Merlin sighed, hitched up his own bag and made his way over to Arthur's car. "Hi," he said shyly once he had gotten into speaking distance.

Arthur beamed at him. "Hey yourself," he replied. "You took forever, what was taking so long?"

"I, um..." Merlin floundered for an excuse, "had to talk to Professor Anhora about some... stuff."

Thankfully, Arthur believed the lie. He smiled and walked round the car with Merlin; the question of why Arthur felt the need to walk Merlin to the other side of the car (it wasn't like he couldn't find the passenger door by himself) died on Merlin's lips when Arthur opened the door for him. Merlin blinked at the door then stared at Arthur. The blonde shuffled uncomfortably. "What?" he asked.

"You're opening the door for me," Merlin said blankly.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Yes, thanks so much for stating the obvious Merlin. Now will you shut up and get in the car." The embarrassment rolled off Arthur in waves, it was actually kind of cute.

"I'm not a girl," the dark haired boy told Arthur once they were both seated and buckled up.

"I noticed," Arthur replied with a blinding smile. It took most of Merlin's will-power not to lunge across the distance between them and ravage Arthur and his stupidly pretty face – this was why Arthur driving Merlin home was a bad idea.

As they drove out of the school Merlin tried to sink as low as possible; he didn't want anyone to see him, what would they think if they saw Arthur Pendragon giving Merlin Emrys a ride home? He really didn't want to know. "Where do you live?" Arthur interrupted Merlin's thoughts with his question.

"Medicus Close," Merlin mumbled.

"Medicus Close?" Arthur returned Merlin's words in a question with a frown. "That's an odd name for a road."

Merlin hummed in agreement and stared out the window. "It's Latin. Medicus means doctor and there's a doctor's surgery round there. My uncle is a Pharmacist," Merlin replied distractedly.

"I thought you said your uncle owns a shop."

"He does – it's a pharmacy."

"Oh." An awkward silence fell between them. "Um..." Arthur began and he sounded so unsure that Merlin couldn't help but look over at him.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked with a frown. Had Arthur changed his mind? Was he going to chuck him out of his car? Merlin bit his lip and hoped that he wasn't. Oddly, he was beginning to like Arthur.

"You may think I'm an idiot for saying this, but..." Arthur paused and sent Merlin a sheepish smile, "I don't know where Medicus Close is."

Merlin was startled into laughter. The awkwardness that had been surrounding them quickly dissipated. Arthur blushed. "It's not that funny," he muttered.

"I'm sorry," Merlin panted. "I just thought that it was going to be something awful. I thought you were going to throw me out of the car or something."

Arthur joined in Merlin's laughter. "Why would I throw you out of the car?"

Merlin shrugged. "You're confusing and do really weird things for no apparent reason; I've stopped expecting the inevitable and started predicting the impossible."

Another chuckle escaped the blonde and he smiled softly at Merlin, whose insides melted. "You say I do the strangest things and yet you say the strangest things. We make quite the pair don't we?"

"We do indeed," Merlin replied and he felt a blush creeping up the side of his neck along with an overwhelming feeling that he couldn't place. It smothered his insides and caused his breath to catch in his chest. He forced it down and smiled softly back at Arthur.

"So..." Arthur prompted.

Merlin glanced at him. When he didn't continue, he asked, "So...what?"

"Medicus Close, where is it?"

"Oh! Um...right, sorry." Merlin sat back up in his seat and craned his neck to see where they were. Luckily, Arthur hadn't taken them too far away from the school gate and so Merlin quickly got his bearings. "Do you know where the butchers is?"

"We have a butchers?" Arthur asked in confusion.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "I'll take that as a no then," he muttered. "Turn left here." He resolved to give Arthur the occasional direction instead of actually trying to locate a landmark near his house that the blonde knew.

"I don't come down this way often," Arthur said softly after a few minutes of silence but for Merlin giving directions.

"Why would you?" the dark haired boy replied. "I don't suppose you have any friends down here. Not to mention," he continued, "that there are only about five people in the entire school who actually live this way."

"Only five?" Arthur asked.

"It's not exactly cheap. I'm only in there because I managed to get a half-scholarship. We managed to scrape together the rest." Merlin rested his head against the window; this was something he didn't really want to talk to Arthur – one of the richest boys in school – about.

"Why do you live with your uncle? What happened to your parents?" the blonde questioned. He slowed the car as some small school children crossed the road. A small red head was skipping across the road, her mother walking behind her and looking fondly at the girl.

Merlin smiled at the girl and her mother, but didn't answer Arthur's question. "It's the next right."

They were outside Merlin's house before either of them really realised that they had got there. Arthur pulled up outside. It wasn't small, but it wasn't anything grand. It was just a normal two-storey terrace, although they did have the best garden in the neighbourhood – Gaius was a bit crazy about herbs.

"Nice garden," Arthur commented with a smirk.

Merlin blushed. "It's my uncle's." Another awkward silence fell between them. "Um..." Merlin grabbed his bag and opened the door. "I'll see you later."

However, before he could get out of the car Arthur grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down. "You didn't answer my question."

"What question?" Merlin asked; his eyes were wide and confused.

"What happened to your parents?"

Merlin shrugged. "Nothing. My mum still lives at home, but she couldn't really afford to look after me anymore and there weren't any good schools near where we lived. So I came to live with my uncle." Merlin shrugged again. "It's not really a big deal."

"What about your dad?" Arthur asked. His hand was still on Merlin's wrist and it felt like his skin was burning through Merlin's thin jacket.

He swallowed before answering. "I never knew him. I- I don't know what happened. My mother never told me."

Arthur released his wrist and moved his hand up to slide along his cheek. "I never knew my mother," he said quietly.

Merlin nodded. "You said."

The blonde smiled suddenly. "We have something in common."

"Yeah, I guess we do," Merlin replied, smiling back.

"That's nice," Arthur's voice was so quiet now that Merlin had to strain to hear what he said. He leant forward slightly and so did Arthur. Merlin could feel his breath gusting against his face; his heart stuttered and his stomach jumped.

"I'll, um..." Merlin paused and cleared his throat. "I'll see you later then?" Why it came out sounding like a question, Merlin didn't know.

"Tomorrow," Arthur replied.

The dark haired boy nodded. "Tomorrow, yeah."

For a moment it felt like something else was going to happen, like they might actually... but no. Arthur pulled away and started the car again. "Have a nice night."

Merlin stumbled out of the car and by the time that he had said, "You too," Arthur was already speeding away.

He was late. It had gone way past when he should have left the house if he actually wanted to catch the bus and get to school on time and he still had a million things to do before he was anywhere near ready.

"Merlin," Gaius called. "Shouldn't you have left by now?"

"Yes," Merlin yelled back as he hurriedly shoved books into his bag. It was hardly his fault that his alarm hadn't gone off or that the shower had decided to randomly run out of hot water while he was still in it. And it was definitely not his fault that all of his shirts were dirty and he had to get one out of the wash and iron it, nor was it his fault that the iron had broken. He was having a bit of bad day.

Gaius appeared at the doorway to the kitchen just as Merlin's slightly burnt (absolutely incinerated) toast jumped up from the toaster. The dark haired boy grabbed them and swore as they burnt his hand. One fell to the floor and Merlin quickly shoved the other in his mouth – dry toast, lovely. Gaius helpfully picked up the piece that had fallen to the floor and put it in the bin for Merlin.

"'Fank 'oo Ga's," Merlin said round a mouthful of toast.

Gaius shook his head. "Slow down my boy. There's no point in rushing, you've probably missed the bus anyway."

Merlin glared at his uncle; sometimes being bluntly honest wasn't always the best course of action.

"Besides," he continued wisely as Merlin jumped around the kitchen searching for his tie, "the days that start the worst, end the best."

"What kind of stupid saying is that?" Merlin demanded. He had swallowed the toast too fast and had a feeling that he had burnt his throat then he got his fingers caught in his tie. "Oh fuck it," he exclaimed. "I'll do it on the bus."

"I think you may have to walk Merlin," Gaius said as he followed Merlin to the door. Merlin had a brief panic when he thought he had lost his jacket, but Gaius located and handed it to him silently. "What are you doing after school today?"

"Um..." He thought for a second. "Nothing."

"You wouldn't mind helping me in the shop then?" Gaius asked.

"Er, no. Sure I can help," Merlin answered as he hopped into his shoes.

Gaius nodded and smiled. "Thank you Merlin."

"Anytime." The door was wrenched open and the dark haired boy ran out.

"Have a good day," Gaius called after Merlin's retreating figure.

"You too," he shouted.

Merlin ran all the way to the bus stop only to find the bus pulling away as he got there. He yelled and waved his arms and did his impersonation of a crazy man, but to no avail. The bus just kept on driving and Merlin was left sitting on the side of the curb feeling miserable and trying to get his breath back.

Eventually, he got up and started walking. It was a ten minute drive to school and a twenty minute walk; he found it a push to get to school on time when he took the bus. Mr Baxter would undoubtedly give him another detention for being late. He muttered darkly to himself and kicked rocks while he wandered down the road. Cars sped past him; Merlin cursed them all – if he had a car then he would never be late.

A familiar red car drove past and then stopped just in front of Merlin. Merlin frowned at it – he was sure that he had seen it before, but where? He walked towards it cautiously and glanced into the window. Merlin jumped when he saw Arthur looking back at him.

The blonde laughed. "That scary, am I?"

Merlin blushed. "I wasn't scared. I was just...surprised." He paused then asked, "What are you doing here?"

Arthur shrugged. "I thought you might want a ride."

"But..." Merlin was confused. "You live on the other side of town. What are you doing round here? You said you never come down this way."

He shrugged again. "You don't have a car and I thought you probably got the bus. So I came to offer you a lift. My car must be preferable to a bus."

Merlin frowned.

"I went to your house," Arthur continued. "Your uncle said you had already left though. He also said that you had missed the bus. So I drove along here and saw you and here we are." He smiled sharply at Merlin. "Do you want a lift?"

Merlin nodded dumbly. Had Arthur seriously come all this way just to give Merlin a ride to school? That was actually strangely...sweet. Who knew? Arthur could be sweet. He opened the door and slid into the car. Arthur started driving again.

"Did you know that your tie is undone?" Arthur asked.

Merlin glanced down. He had totally forgotten about that. Slowly, he moved the tie into place. "Um, thanks. You know, for driving me to school," Merlin said after a pause.

"Anytime," Arthur returned smiling. Merlin couldn't help but smile back. "Are you having a bad day?" the blonde asked sympathetically.

Merlin exhaled heavily. "You have no idea."

"Well, it can only get better, right?" Arthur's smile brightened and Melrin's stomach twisted.

"Yeah," he muttered back. _Maybe Gaius had been right_, Merlin thought as he glanced at Arthur who was looking as beautiful as ever, _this day wasn't turning out to be as disastrous as I thought it would._

"He what?" Morgana demanded, attracting the attention of most of the students in their science class along with the science teacher.

"Not so loud Morgana," Merlin hissed back as he smiled innocently at the teacher. He raised his eyebrows dismissively and turned away. "He only gave me a ride to school; it's nothing to scream about." Merlin poured some of the nitrous acid into a test tube; he didn't actually know what they were supposed to be doing, he and Morgana had spent most of the lesson talking about Morgana's perplexing adopted brother.

"He gave you a lift to school," Morgana repeated slowly. "He gave you a lift to school? You are kidding me. Arthur is as straight as an arrow, not that you aren't attractive Merlin darling, but you're not really Arthur's type. Last time I checked, he preferred them soft not hard."

"Morgana!" Merlin glanced at the students around them, half of whom were still listening to their conversation. "Will you keep your bloody voice down? Christ, I'd rather everyone didn't know my private business thank you."

Morgana, obediently, kept her voice down. "He gave you a lift home and then he gave you a lift to school," she whispered excitedly in Merlin's ear.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "You live with him. Did you not notice that he went the wrong way when he left that morning?"

"I suppose he did leave a little earlier than normal, but I didn't think anything of it," she muttered back. "I can't believe he actually gave you a lift to school."

"Well believe it 'cause it happened," Merlin sighed. Why was it so shocking that Arthur gave him a lift to school?

"What happened yesterday?" Morgana asked as she forcibly yanked the copper sulphate crystals from Merlin's hand. "And you don't put _those_ there. You put them _here_."

"Right, right, sorry," Merlin mumbled. "Nothing really happened. He asked where I live, I told him, he drove me home, and I got out. There, end of story."

His friend grabbed his wrist tightly, her perfectly manicured nails digging into his skin. "Merlin," she said firmly. He avoided her gaze. "Merlin," she repeated, her voice almost a growl. He flicked his eyes to her piercing green ones. "What happened? Details, I want _details_." The particular emphasis on the last word left Merlin slightly frightened. No person had any right to be that intimidating and especially not if they are your friend.

"Fine," Merlin replied, pulling his wrist from her grasp. "He asked where I lived, I told him, he didn't know where it was and so I had to give him directions. Then we drove for a little and he said he didn't go down there often, I said why would he, he asked about why I live with my uncle, and I didn't answer. Then we were at my house and I tried to get out, but he wouldn't let me until I had answered his question, so I answered his question then he said we have something in common. And then," Merlin paused and took a deep breath, "we may have nearly not really sort of almost kissed."

All through Merlin's discussion Morgana had been working steadily on their work, but when he said the last word she emptied the entire contents of the pot she had been measuring out into the tube and it exploded (mini-style). Morgana and Merlin both jumped back with matching screams as the tube set fire and bits of glass zoomed through the air. A long swirl of smoke rose from what was once their experiment and they stared at it with dejected eyes.

"Oh," Merlin said quietly as the teacher came rushing over with a fire extinguisher and some of the other students started screaming in terror.

Morgana tilted her head to the side. "I think I may have poured too much in. What do you think?"

Her partner hummed in agreement. "You might have overdone it just a tad."

Morgana shrugged. "Oh well, they'll just have to get a new table." She span round to face Merlin. "What were you saying about nearly kissing Arthur?"

Merlin dropped his head into his hands as everyone – even the teacher – turned to stare at him. "Discretion Morgana," he told her, "is not your strong point."

Merlin had maths after his horrifying science lesson with Morgana. Neither she nor Gwen was in this class, but he had managed to befriend an odd boy named Mordred. As he trudged up the steps to his lesson he noticed a large group standing at the top – Arthur's friends. Merlin narrowed his eyes and lowered his head, hoping that they wouldn't see him. They did.

"Well look who it is," one of them jeered, moving so that he was directly in Merlin's path. "It's that little freaky boy. Have you come to tell us off about our behaviour again?"

Merlin took a calming breath. "I haven't come here to say anything to you. I'm just trying to get to my lesson."

They laughed at him. "Well, isn't that sweet. He's just trying to get to lesson," the boy shared a look with his friends. "We can help if you want," he offered and he seemed to be saying a lot more than the words that were spoken, but Merlin couldn't figure out what it was.

"I'm fine, thanks," Merlin replied. He attempted to get past, but the boy pushed him. Merlin stumbled backwards.

"It wasn't an offer," he ground out.

Something twisted in Merlin's stomach. It wasn't the nice twisting that he got when Arthur was around; it was a persistent ache that told him he was in trouble – serious trouble. "Listen," Merlin began, "I don't want to get into a fight with you."

They weren't listening. The group just kept advancing and Merlin realised with a jolt of fear that they had backed him into a corner. The twisting feeling in his gut got worse; it rammed at the base of his throat and forced his heart to speed. He felt sweat begin to form on his palms. How was he supposed to get out of this? A quick head count told him that there were seven boys who were all considerably bigger than him and most likely played rugby on weekends. "You really shouldn't do this," he tried desperately to sound stronger and more confident than he felt. He only came out sounding a little scared and shaky.

"Why not?" one of them asked. "Will your boyfriend come to the rescue?"

Merlin blanched. "What?

A laugh went round the group. "Arthur, isn't he your boyfriend?"

Merlin felt himself blush. "No," he mumbled, glancing down at his feet.

"You're an idiot. Don't you wonder why he likes you?"

His head shot back up. Yes, was the answer to that. He did wonder why Arthur had suddenly taken a liking to him, but he wasn't so sure if he wanted to know from these boys.

Another laugh at Merlin's reaction to that question sounded. "I'm sure you'll figure it out sooner or later."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Merlin asked.

The boy shrugged. "Nothing." He smiled evilly and fisted his hand in Merlin's shirt. "Shall we have some fun boys?"

Just when Merlin seriously started thinking he was going to die someone yelled, "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Quick, sharp footsteps followed and Merlin was released. The group dissipated to reveal a furious Arthur.

"Arthur," Merlin said weakly. He felt relief curl in his stomach to replace the terrified feeling.

"Merlin," Arthur growled glaring at his friends. "What do you think you were doing?"

"We was just talking," the boy who had had Merlin pinned to the wall replied. He didn't look so big when Arthur was glowering down at him. "We didn't mean nothing by it."

"Don't do it again," Arthur snapped. "I swear to God, if you even think of putting a hand on him ever again I will snap each and every one of your measly fingers, understand?"

The group stared at Arthur with wide eyes. "Yes sir," they murmured.

"Good." Arthur span round grabbed Merlin's arm and pulled him away from the group.

It wasn't until they had turned the corner that Merlin said quietly, "Arthur."

The blonde stopped abruptly. He glanced at Merlin and he looked so angry that Merlin had to fight not to flinch back from the gaze. Some of his fear must have shown on his face though because Arthur released his arm and softened his expression.

"Are you all right?" he asked, sweeping a finger down Merlin's cheek.

Merlin nodded. "I'm fine. They didn't actually do anything to me. You interrupted before they could." He couldn't help the adoring smile that slipped onto his lips, but he did manage to contain the 'My hero' that he wanted to shout at Arthur while swinging his arms round his neck and holding on for dear life. "Why did you help me?" he asked instead.

Arthur smiled and shrugged. "I thought I'd take your advice and I wanted you to think that I'm a good man."

"I already do," Merlin told him quietly.

A silence fell between them, but it was not uncomfortable this time. They just stared at each other for what felt like eternity. It was broken by Arthur asking "Shouldn't you be in lessons?"

"Shouldn't you?" Merlin retorted.

"I came up here to get paper for Mr Afanc."

Merlin wrinkled his nose. "I don't like Mr Afanc, he smells funny."

Arthur laughed and said, "So I told you my reason for not being in class, what's yours?"

"I was on my way, but your creepy friends stopped me."

Arthur's eyes narrowed. "They're not my friends."

"You could have fooled me," Merlin replied with a raise of eyebrows.

"We hang around together because it is expected."

"Why?"

"Because it's expected."

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Why is it expected, you prat?"

"Because I'm popular and rich and so are they."

"I don't think you should hang round with them anymore," Merlin told him.

"Have you not noticed?" Arthur replied with a sharp smile. "I'm not."

Merlin frowned then remembered that Arthur had been stalking him for about three days. "No, you're not are you?"

"Do you want me to walk you to lesson, make sure that nobody tries to kill you?" Arthur asked with a smirk.

"I'm sure I can walk myself to lesson," the dark haired boy replied. "But I guess there's no harm in you accompanying me."

They were nearly at Merlin's classroom when he remembered something that the group of boys had said to him. "Arthur?"

"Yes?"

"Why _are_ you hanging round with me?"

Arthur turned to him with a frown. "What?"

"Why me? Why did you just suddenly stop hanging round with your friends and start hanging round with me?"

"Because," Arthur's expression turned thoughtful. "Because I like you."

"Why?" Merlin asked. What had they meant when they said that Merlin would figure it out?

"Because you're pretty and sweet and funny and ridiculously stupid," Arthur answered. "And because you have big ears."

Merlin blushed and looked away. Arthur came forward a step and moved his hands up to Merlin's face, forcing him to look back. "I like big ears," he murmured.

"Oh," Merlin answered dumbly. "That's good."

Arthur smiled.

It was Merlin who pulled away this time. "I should," he paused and swallowed. "I should get to lesson. I'm really late."

"Wait," Arthur called before Merlin could run away. "Do you want, I mean, would you like to..." he ran a hand over his face and made an annoyed sound. "Do you want to go out with me?"

Merlin swayed on his feet; however he managed to stay upright. "Like a date?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," Arthur replied. "You, on a date, with me. What do you say?"

"Sure," Merlin said breathlessly.

Arthur smiled brilliantly. "Great. Tonight?"

"Yes," Merlin squeaked. Then he remembered, "Oh! No, damn. Not tonight, I promised Gaius I would help out after school."

Arthur looked disappointed and shrugged. "No worries, tomorrow then?"

"Yes, definitely. Tomorrow, ok." Merlin smiled broadly and walked backwards.

"Do you want a ride home again?" Arthur asked.

The dark haired boy nodded. "Sure," he replied breathlessly.

"Cool. I'll, er... see you then, then."

"See you."

Merlin couldn't stop smiling through all of maths. Mordred thought he was insane. He didn't really care.

When Merlin tripped into the canteen at lunch laughter didn't follow him oddly enough; instead everyone within a five foot radius stared at him and whispered things to each other. He scowled at them and they quickly turned away, trying to pretend that they hadn't just been staring and muttering about him. Merlin sighed and located Gwen and Morgana. They were sitting at the usual table. Arthur wasn't there, Merlin tried to think of this as a good thing.

"Hey girls," Merlin greeted as he slid into the seat beside Gwen. "How were your lessons?"

"They were ok," Gwen replied smiling. "I hear you blew up the science lab."

Merlin gaped. "That wasn't me," he defended in outrage. "It was Morgana!"

Morgana tutted. "It was your fault Merlin," she put in from across the table where she was examining her nails.

"How was maths?" Gwen interjected before Merlin exploded, he was going very red.

The dark haired boy shrugged and the anger ebbed from him. "It was all right. Arthur's friends found me and tried to kill me."

Gwen made a sympathetic sound and laid her hand across Merlin's while Morgana growled. Her hands tightened on the bottle she was holding. "They're so horrible! Why did they pick on you? What have you done to them? I hope you kicked them in the balls, Merlin."

Merlin laughed at his friend. "No I didn't actually, but I think Arthur put the fear of God into them."

Morgana immediately relaxed. "Arthur?" she asked curiously.

He nodded. "He came and told them to go away and leave me alone and some other stuff," he trailed off as Morgana's eyes gradually became wider. They looked like they were going to pop out of her head.

"What did he say to them exactly?" Gwen asked when it became clear that Morgana had lost the ability to speak.

"I think he threatened to break all of their fingers if they even thought of touching me," Merlin replied quietly. "But that's what Arthur does right? He threatens to break people's bones, isn't that normal?"

Gwen shook her head. "Not really."

An exhale from across the table bought the attention to Morgana. She leant back in her chair and stared at them. "Merlin, sweetheart, I think you may actually be succeeding in doing what no one has ever achieved before."

"What's that?"

"Turning Arthur into a normal human being." She smirked evilly. "I'm impressed."

Merlin blushed.

"So what happened after? Did he just leave you to it?" Gwen asked.

"Well, no. We talked a bit and then he walked me to my lesson and heaskedmeoutonadate," he finished quickly.

Morgana and Gwen stared at him. "What?" they asked in unison.

Merlin shrugged and cleared his throat. "He, um... he kind of asked me out. On a date."

"What?" Gwen screeched, everyone stopped eating and stared at her, but she didn't seem to care. She was hopping in her seat excitedly saying, "Oh my god! Seriously? He asked you out? Like out out? Not like out as friends but like out! Like on a date out! Oh my god! That is so great Merlin! Wow, wow, wow, wow. Oh you have to tell us everything that happens. When are you going? What are you doing? What are you going to wear?"

"Gwen," Morgana cut in. Gwen turned to look at her with sparkling, excited eyes. "Shut up."

It was then that the other girl realised that half the school was staring at her. She blushed and looked down at her lap, twisting her hands and biting her lip. "Sorry," she whispered loudly. The rest of the room went back to their conversations as if Gwen hadn't just a massive fool of herself in front of everyone.

"He asked you out?" Morgana clarified.

"Yeah," Merlin replied.

"On a date?" A slow smile was spreading over Morgana's face.

Merlin nodded.

She clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Merlin that's fantastic!"

He rolled his eyes. "I haven't even told you what I said yet."

Both sets of eyes quickly snapped to his face. "You said yes," Morgana told him.

"You didn't say no to him, did you?" Gwen asked.

Merlin squirmed in his seat, the intensity of their gazes making him uncomfortable. "Of course I said yes, I'm not actually an idiot."

"Oh thank god," Morgana breathed out in relief. "So Arthur's taking you out?"

He nodded.

"I always knew he was gay," she intoned wisely. Gwen hummed her agreement.

Merlin frowned. "But you told me in science that he was straight as an arrow."

"I was trying to stop you from getting your hopes up, but now that he's asked you out it's ok. And if he breaks your heart I will castrate him, you can tell him that," she replied cheerfully.

"Maybe you should tell him that one yourself Morgana," Gwen said sagely.

Morgana shrugged. "Whatever. Still, he's definitely gay. The power of my magical breasts never worked on him."

The dark haired boy wrinkled his nose. "As impressive as your breasts are Morgana, they shouldn't really work on Arthur. You are his sister after all," he pointed out.

She shrugged again. "Adopted sister. Besides it never bothered Uther."

"Eww!" Gwen exclaimed. "Morgana, that is one of those things that I never need to know!"

Merlin snorted with laughter and checked his watch. He had an hour and fifteen minutes before he could see Arthur again. It felt like a lifetime away...

Merlin rushed to the car park; it was a stark contrast to before when he had been dragging his feet, reluctant to see the blonde again. However, now he could barely contain his eagerness to see the stupid prat. When he spotted Arthur beside his car a well of excitement rose up in him rather than the dread that was there before.

"Hi," he said with a beaming smile that he had been unable to fight off his face all day.

Arthur smiled back. "Hey yourself," he repeated his words from the day before and Merlin laughed. Again, Arthur opened the door for him, but Merlin didn't argue this time. Nor did he sink low in his seat when they drove out of the school. Merlin felt his heart stutter when he noticed people staring. _Yes,_ he thought triumphantly, _Arthur Pendragon is driving me home and I'm going out on a date with him tomorrow!_

"How was your lunch?" Arthur asked. "I didn't get a chance to see you, sorry about that. I wish I could have, but I was busy."

Merlin shook his head. "That's all right. I was with Morgana and Gwen. We just... talked."

"About?"

"Stuff." He was reluctant to answer that question; somehow he didn't think answering 'you' would go down too well. "What about you? What kept you so busy?"

"I had fencing practice," Arthur replied. The car stopped at the crossing again and Merlin spotted the same little red headed girl that he had seen yesterday. Her father was with her today.

"You fence?" How had Merlin not known that?

"Yes. I started when I was six."

"That's very young," he pointed out.

The blonde nodded. "My father chose the sport. He said it was noble and suitable for a person of my standing."

"Was your father born in the middle ages?" The question was out before Merlin could stop himself. However, when he realised what he had said he quickly raised his hands to cover his mouth with a gasp. But it was too late, the words were already out. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

Arthur didn't seem to care though, he was nearly crying with laughter. "You shouldn't make me laugh so much while I'm driving Merlin, we'll crash."

"I didn't mean..." Merlin trailed off, unsure of what he was going to say and what did it matter anyway when Arthur was laughing and looking so carefree?

"It's ok," Arthur replied shaking his head. "Sometimes I wonder if my father is living in the middle ages too. You shouldn't disregard fencing though, it's a great sport. You'd probably be awful at it, but I'm sure you'd love watching."

"Hey!" Merlin cried. "I wouldn't be awful, although I probably would like watching especially if you're playing." Again, the words were out of Merlin's mouth before he had time to think. He banged his head against the headrest and groaned loudly, sinking down and covering his face with his hands while Arthur started laughing again. "Just pretend I didn't say that," Merlin muttered from between his fingers.

"On no, I think I'll remember that one." Arthur yanked the dark haired boy back up and smiled his sharp-toothed smile at him. "You should come and watch sometime. I think you would enjoy it."

Merlin nodded. He could still feel the blush tainting his neck. "What do you wear when you fence?"

Arthur raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Did you leave your speech filter at home today Merlin?" he asked.

"I didn't mean like that you prat," Merlin replied hitting Arthur's arm. He left his hand there, curling his fingers into the rough fabric of Arthur's jacket. "Do you wear those big helmet things?"

"It's a mask and yes I do wear one because if I didn't then I'd probably end up with a foil sticking out of my eye," Arthur answered.

"Well then I won't be able to tell who you are then will I?" Merlin complained.

Arthur smiled and moved his hand to entwine it with the one that had been resting on his arm. "You'll be able to tell, don't worry."

Merlin bit his lip in an attempt to contain the girlish noises that were threatening to escape. Arthur was holding his hand. His chest felt too small for the enormous feeling that was expanding in him. He tried to pretend that it wasn't there and looked out of the window instead.

Merlin had never really had a proper relationship with anyone; there had been one girl, Freya, in Ealdor and there had been fumbling in the dark with Will, but nothing else. Nothing real. Maybe that was why Merlin felt so much desire racing through him, because he had never really had anything. Maybe that was why whenever Arthur smiled at him he felt something lodge in his throat and a ridiculous feeling in his chest expand so much that it felt like he was going to burst. 'Oh the joys of your first love' was what his mother had always said when she had seen a young couple together. Was that what this was? Something that was brilliant and perfect and new, but would bore them and die when it got old – Merlin didn't want it to be, he really didn't want it to be.

"You're very quiet," Arthur commented, drawing Merlin from his thoughts with a jolt. "What are you thinking?" He squeezed Merlin's hand and glanced over at him, an expression that looked like concern on his features.

"Nothing," Merlin replied quietly squeezing back.

Arthur looked unconvinced. "Why don't I believe you?"

"Because you clearly think I am too smart to not have something constantly going on in my brain all the time," he shot back cheekily with what he really hoped was a flirtatious smile and not an awkward grimace.

The blonde laughed and shook his head. "We're here."

"What?" Merlin had been so immersed in his thoughts that he had totally missed half of the journey. He watched his house come closer and closer and eventually stop outside his door. He couldn't believe that he had wasted his time with Arthur thinking about whether this thing between them was going to last or not. "Do you want to come in?" he asked.

"I would love to, but you promised your uncle that you would help out in his shop," Arthur reminded him.

"Damn," Merlin cursed, "I had forgotten about that."

"Do you want me to walk you to your door?" Arthur asked, his head cocked to the side with an innocent expression that looked monumentally out of place on his face.

"I'm not actually a girl."

"No you're not." Arthur got out of the car and opened Merlin's door for him anyway.

When they reached the door Merlin fumbled with his keys briefly. He unlocked the door after he found the right one, but kept it shut and stayed on the door step. "I'll see you tomorrow then," he said while wondering if it would be too soon to kiss Arthur. Morgana had said to wait until at least the first date or else he would come across as easy, but she had probably already shagged Leon and so really didn't have any right to give advice. Then again Gwen had agreed with her.

Arthur took the decision out of his hands though; he stepped forward and placed his hand on Merlin's waist. "Tomorrow," he murmured. Merlin inhaled sharply as Arthur came closer and he was actually going to kiss him when...

Merlin fell backwards through the door Gaius had just opened. "Ah Merlin!" his uncle called. "I was wondering what was taking so long. Come along, I need your help at the shop." Gaius seemed to spot Arthur then. "Oh, hello. I didn't know you where bringing a friend home Merlin."

"I'm not," Merlin grumbled as he picked himself up off of the floor. "Arthur was giving me a lift home."

"That's nice of him," Gaius said cheerfully. "Did you catch Merlin this morning?"

"Er, yeah," Arthur replied. "I saw him walking down the main road and picked him up there."

Gaius smiled approvingly at Arthur. "Come on then Merlin, the shop isn't going to tend itself. Rebecca's in there at the moment and you know what she's like." Gaius moved back into the house, leaving Merlin and Arthur alone.

"Sorry about that," Merlin muttered. "The shop is just round the corner, we can get there really quickly if you cut through the back garden and Gaius normally comes back around this time to check that I got home safe. Rebecca is the other student helper, she normally helps on the days that I don't. She can be a little...eccentric." His voice was quite and he held on to the door frame tightly.

Arthur nodded. "Don't worry about it. Your uncle's a very nice man." There was an awkward pause then Arthur said, "I'll pick you up at about five thirtyish tomorrow, if that's all right?"

Merlin immediately brightened; he beamed happily at the other boy. "Sure! Sounds great."

"See you then," Arthur said walking back towards his car.

"Bye," Merlin replied. He stayed at the door until he could no longer see the shining red paint of Arthur's car, then he shut the door and went to help Gaius.

"He seems like a nice boy," Gaius commented when Merlin entered the shop.

Merlin nodded and smiled. "Yeah, he's cool."

"What's happening tomorrow?"

The bottle of medicine that Merlin was holding nearly went crashing to its death on the tiled floor when Gaius asked his question. "Tomorrow?" Merlin squeaked then cleared his throat. "What about tomorrow?"

"Arthur said he was going to pick you up at five thirty. Are you going out somewhere?" Gaius asked innocently.

Sometimes Merlin could swear that Gaius had superhuman powers. Or that he was psychic. He wasn't quite sure which one it was. "Yeah, we're going out."

"Somewhere nice?"

"I don't know."

Gaius smirked and patted his nephew on the head. "Well, I hope you enjoy your date. Don't do anything silly."

"I won't," Merlin replied.

Rebecca walked in then, auburn hair bouncing as she walked. "Hi Merlin!"

"Hi Rebecca," he greeted weakly.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, her eyebrows drawing together in concern.

"Gaius is superhuman."

"We already knew this," Rebecca replied as she started stacking shelves. She patted him on the head, much like Gaius had just done, and said, "Don't worry, sweetie. I'm sure everything will turn out fine in the end." She lifted the – now empty – boxes and turned to leave. "Enjoy your date with Arthur," she called over her shoulder. Merlin stared after her. Rebecca clearly had superhuman powers as well.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Days to write, minutes to review – please do!


	6. Chapter 6

**Title:** COD (Centre of Detention) Chapter 6

**Author:** topperchar

**Characters:** Merlin/Arthur, very small amounts of Gwen/Lancelot and Morgana/Leon, and various OCs and other canon characters.

**Rating:** NC-17

**Word Count: **2,975

**Summary: **In Merlin's opinion, Arthur Pendragon is a complete prat. Isn't it odd how quickly and wholly a person's opinion can change? A tale of how a few detentions, a couple of arguments and a kiss can change your life. High school AU

**Warnings: **Naughty language, tiny bit of blaspheming. The rating is for the language not anything else. Weirdly, there are no spoilers for Merlin but there are for Dear John. You have been warned.

**A/N:** I am falling hopelessly in love with all the fantastic people who keep on commenting on this; thank you so much! You are keeping me motivated and it is nice to see that my writing is so well received. So I hope you enjoy this part.

**Disclaimer:** All characters are the property of the BBC. Everything else is the product of my odd mind. Enjoy!

* * *

Merlin was still late for school the next day, but it didn't matter because Arthur was waiting for him outside; his gleaming red car glinting in the early morning sunlight. The journey to school left Merlin breathless and giddy – his smile probably appeared a little manic and a few people sent him odd looks, but he was too happy to really care. His happy mood lifted Gwen and Morgana (who it turned out had shagged Leon and decided it would be great to share this with her two best friends – all details included) until they were demanding what Merlin was so cheerful about. To which he replied with a shrug a content smile and a, "It's just a really nice day, you know?"

Sadly, Merlin didn't have any lessons with the blonde who was the cause of his good mood, although the fleeting glimpses as they passed in the hallway were enough. They were always accompanied by a smirk and a gentle touch. The feel of Arthur's hand running along his or up his arm as he walked by never failed to send chills up Merlin's spine. It didn't help him to contain the ecstatic smirk that was threatening to split his face in half either.

It was Morgana who gave both Merlin and Gwen a ride home after school (Arthur had to do something, which was monumentally unfair, but Merlin wasn't bothered at all – not even a little bit) and Merlin bid the girls goodbye while Gwen squealed about how _excited _she was that Merlin was _finally _going out with Arthur and Morgana demanded to be told _everything_ on Monday. Merlin agreed that he would tell them everything that happened and Morgana eventually drove away, leaving Merlin to scrabble his way into his house.

"Gaius?" Merlin called. "'M home."

Merlin wandered into the kitchen where his uncle was standing by the back door clutching a cup of herbal tea. "No Arthur today?" he asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.

Merlin blushed and shook his head. "He had to stay after school. Morgana gave me a lift home instead."

Gaius smiled and patted Merlin on the shoulder. "I'm glad you're making so many good friends Merlin. You're mother and I are both very pleased that you are fitting in so well here," he told him – the old man sounded almost...proud.

Merlin felt a swirl of pleasure at making his family happy. "I'm glad I am too."

"I've got to get back to the shop; Rebecca's on her own. Will you be all right here?" Gaius asked as he placed his – now empty – cup of herbal tea in the sink.

"Yeah, I should be fine," Merlin replied with an encouraging smile that he had a feeling came out looking more deranged than reassured.

Gaius nodded. "I'll be back in time to see you off on your date."

The blush that had only just receded from Merlin's face made a reappearance. "Okay," he mumbled as his uncle left. He watched him move towards the end of their small garden and let himself out of the back gate, locking it behind him. He waved at Merlin through the window and Merlin waved back. Then he sighed and glanced at the clock. It was twenty-five to four; he still had loads of time before Arthur arrived. He busied himself briefly with making a hot chocolate. He'd wait till five then he'd get ready...

* * *

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," Merlin cursed as he threw shirt after shirt across his room. It was quarter past five and Merlin hadn't even decided on what to wear. He pulled on a white shirt with a garish logo on the front then almost immediately yanked it back off. "Oh no," he groaned as he watched the clock desperately. As Merlin pulled the last shirt out of his wardrobe and disregarded it he made the decision – desperate times called for desperate measures after all.

He ran out into the hall and grabbed the phone then quickly dialled Morgana's number. "Yes," came the bored reply. Merlin could just imagine his beautiful friend standing there inspecting her nails with a look of vague disinterest.

"Morgana," Merlin exclaimed. "I need your help! I don't know what to wear."

Her tinkling laugh sounded down the line. Merlin's eyes narrowed. "This is not a laughing matter Morgana," he told her as he kicked a pair of shoes that he had tried on fifteen minutes ago when he re-entered his room.

"Well, it sort of is. You see Merlin honey, I wouldn't find it funny at all if I wasn't standing in Arthur's room helping him choose what to wear. You're not the only one having a crisis." The sound of someone shouting at Morgana in the background came through.

"Really?" Merlin asked, strangely pleased that Arthur was in a similar predicament.

"Really," she chirped in reply. "Look, I have to go he's getting upset that no one's paying attention to him. I'll see you on Monday." There was another strangled yell – from who Merlin assumed was Arthur – before Morgana hung up. Merlin sighed; there went his back up plan.

He turned to stare at the mess of his exploding wardrobe. Then he was hit with a sudden bolt of inspiration. "Thank God I have girl friends," he muttered as he dialled another number into the phone.

"Hello?" Gwen answered brightly.

"Gwen! I need your help," Merlin repeated his previous words to Morgana at Gwen. "I don't know what to wear."

She sighed heavily and Merlin could see – just as he had envisioned Morgana – Gwen shaking her head and rolling her eyes at him. "What will we do with you dear?"

"Arthur can't decide what to wear either," Merlin defended.

"How the hell do you know that?"

"I called Morgana and she was busy giving him fashion advice."

"So I'm second to Morgana now, am I?"

"Gwen," Merlin whined. "Please! Arthur gets here in like five minutes! I _need_ your help."

"Fine, fine. What about those black skinny jeans?"

Eventually, with Gwen's help, Merlin was dressed and ready (his hair still a little fluffy from where it was refusing to cooperate) standing by the front door awkwardly. Gaius was beside him, he had arrived to find Merlin hoping around the house trying to locate his wallet while simultaneously trying to pull up and do up the jeans Gwen had suggested and carry on a conversation with her at the same time. Somehow, Merlin managed the multitasking – he was clearly a woman.

"You look very smart Merlin," Gaius told him.

Merlin smiled at his uncle. "Thanks Gaius," he replied slightly breathlessly.

"Are you nervous?"

"Just a bit."

Gaius clapped him on the shoulder and then – surprisingly – pulled him into a hug. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Arthur seems like a very nice boy."

Merlin let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding. "Yeah, he does," he agreed. Just then the doorbell rang and Merlin jumped.

Gaius patted him on the shoulder again and went to answer while Merlin quickly grabbed his jacket and checked his appearance once more in the mirror. The door opened to reveal (bloody gorgeous – as per usual) Arthur. Once Merlin had regained the use of his voice he managed to squeak out, "Hello." Arthur was dressed in loose dark blue jeans and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbow, a red waist coat undone on top.

Arthur smirked as if he knew exactly what he was doing to Merlin and nodded at them both.

"Have fun boys," Gaius said. Merlin ignored him for the most part as he was pushed out of the door; only mumbling a, "Bye," as the door snapped shut behind him.

"You look," Arthur swallowed and cleared his throat as he looked Merlin up and down, "nice."

Merlin tugged clumsily on the navy jumper Gwen had instructed him to wear. "Good nice or bad nice?"

"Good nice. Are they any other kinds of nice?" Arthur asked in confusion.

He shrugged. "Well, there's the kind of nice where you only say that a person looks nice because you don't want to tell them that they look like a hobo and then there's the kind of nice when they look like a slut and there's also the kind of nice whe-"

Arthur cut him off by placing his hand at the small of Merlin's back and steered him over to the car. "You look nice Merlin. Perfectly normal nice, good nice – beautiful nice," his voice dropped to a low whisper at the end of his sentence.

Merlin felt the familiar twisting in his stomach. "Oh," he fiddled with the zip of his jacket. "Thanks. You look nice too; the good nice that is, not the bad nice."

"Merlin," Arthur sighed.

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"Ok."

When they were both seated in the car Merlin asked the question that he had been bursting to ask all day, "Where are we going?"

"You may think it's a bit cliché," the blonde started, "but we're going to the cinema."

"I like the cinema."

"So do I," Arthur replied with his sharp smile.

"What are we going to see?" Merlin asked, trying to contain his excitement. If they were in a cinema then did that mean that they did what all those couples did on TV when they held hands and put their arms around each other? Or was that one of those things that only ever happened in cheesy romantic comedies and nobody actually did in real life?

"Dear John."

"What?" Merlin was confused for a second then remembered his question. "Dear John," he repeated dubiously.

"Yes. I thought you'd appreciate it, you know, with you being in touch with your feminine side and all."

The dark haired boy sighed. "Arthur, I keep trying to tell you this, I'm not actually a girl."

"And I keep trying to tell you that I have noticed." Arthur reached out and slipped his hand into Merlin's. "You'll like it, trust me. It's right up your street."

* * *

Two hours and three bags of popcorn later (Merlin had dropped two on the floor) they emerged from the cinema; Arthur looking oddly victorious and Merlin looking like he had just been crying, which – of course – he had been.

"I told you you'd appreciate it," Arthur said cockily swinging his arm around Merlin's shoulders. "You cried." He added as an afterthought, "Twice."

"It was sad, okay?" Merlin choked out. "He got shot and then his dad died and they had all those fights and it was sad!" He tried to wipe away the tears and snuggle into Arthur at the same time, it didn't work.

"And you try to tell me you're not a girl." Arthur took over the task of wiping away Merlin's tears.

"I hate you," Merlin countered, burying his head further into Arthur's shirt.

"No you don't." The blonde ruffled his hair playfully. "Now get off you're going to get tears and snot on my shirt."

Merlin chocked back a laugh. They had reached Arthur's car by this point and he lowered himself into the seat. Arthur shut the door behind him because he was clearly more gentlemanly then he liked to let on and _still _opened and closed Merlin's car door for him. The drive back to Merlin's was relatively quiet. They held hands again – much to Merlin's delight – and they had held hands in the cinema too. It turned out that the stuff on TV wasn't all an outrageous lie and did actually happen in real life. He tried to pretend that he wasn't disappointed when they pulled up outside his house.

"I'll see you Monday then?" he said, turning to Arthur.

"Yes, Monday." He beamed a smile and asked, "Do you want me to walk you to your door again?"

Merlin didn't even try protesting that he wasn't a girl this time (because he blatantly was) and managed to get out of the car before Arthur had time to come round and open his door for him. He glanced up at the moon and squinted one eye shut then lifted his hand.

"What are you doing?" Arthur asked, tone one of mocking amusement.

"I wanted to see if what they said in the movie was true," Merlin replied. He moved his thumb in front of the moon. "They were right," he told Arthur cheerfully. "The moon isn't bigger than my thumb." Lowering his hand, Merlin gazed at the moon – a silver-grey orb hanging in the sky surrounded by thousands of sparkling pinpricks.

He suddenly felt another's body press against the back of his. He turned slightly to see Arthur behind him; he wound his arms round Merlin's waist. "It's a nice night," he mumbled into the hair at the nape of Merlin's neck.

Merlin pulled in a shaky breath. "Yeah," he answered quietly, resting his hands on Arthur's. "That thumb thing is pretty nifty."

Arthur ruffled Merlin's hair slightly when he huffed a laugh. "You're impressed by that, aren't you?"

"I am," the dark haired boy replied with a beaming smile. His heart was trying to jump out of his chest as he felt Arthur's arms tighten round him minutely.

"I haven't tried it," Arthur commented.

"Do it now," Merlin suggested, leaning back into the blonde's embrace.

"Maybe later, there are more beautiful things to look at right now."

Merlin frowned and turned in Arthur's arms to look at him. "My neighbourhood isn't exactly the prettiest around. What could possibly be more beautiful?"

Arthur brushed his finger against Merlin's cheek and traced down his jaw. His eyes were intent on Merlin's face as he murmured, "Why don't you guess?"

"Oh," Merlin breathed and that wasn't really an answer at all, but what else could he possibly say? They stood halfway along the path up to the house together; all of the lights were still on and Merlin assumed that Gaius was sitting watching TV or eating. He felt his breath quicken slightly as he slipped his arms round Arthur's neck. It was after the first date, he was allowed to kiss Arthur now right?

The dark haired boy tilted his head forwards a little and licked his lips. Arthur mirrored his movements. The wrenching in his gut made his heart flutter and his pulse race. God, he really wanted to kiss him. Like _really _really. "Merlin," Arthur muttered, his warm breath brushing against Merlin's lips. Merlin hummed and leant forward a little more. The blonde chuckled – low in his chest and Merlin felt it where his own chest was pressed tightly against Arthur's. If they got any closer than they'd be under each other's skin. A smile curled Merlin's lips; he loved Arthur's laugh.

It was then that he realised with a jolt of fear spiking at the base of his spine that he may be, just a little bit, falling in love with Arthur. He didn't have long to deliberate on his epiphany as Arthur came forward. The gap between them was miniscule now and so near to being closed...

But then of course the door was swung theatrically open and they jolted apart. Merlin (who desperately wanted to kiss Arthur and was sick of all the nearly-kisses) turned to glare at Gaius and was shocked when he found that it wasn't his uncle who was staring back at him, but..."Mother?" The shock of seeing his mother quickly extinguished the frustration at being interrupted.

"Merlin," Hunith said cheerfully, coming down the path and pulling him into a hug. "Oh it feels like it's been forever since I last saw you – I came for a surprise visit! Gaius told me you were out on a date, who's the lucky boy?" She seemed to spot Arthur then, loitering uncomfortably just out of sight. "Am I interrupting? I'll just go back into the house."

"No, no. It's fine." Merlin gestured at Arthur. "This is Arthur, he's... a friend."

"Boyfriend," Arthur amended as he stepped forward and smiled charmingly at Hunith. "It is a pleasure to meet you Mrs Emrys." Merlin stared at Arthur in shock – boyfriend? Arthur was his boyfriend now? Not that Merlin was complaining, he just couldn't quite believe...

Hunith shook the hand that Arthur offered her and blushed – it was clear that this was where Merlin got the habit from. "I like him," she stage-whispered at Merlin with a wink.

"Mum," Merlin groaned.

She just laughed at him. "Have you two eaten? I made dinner and I'm sure that there is enough to spare for another person." Hunith looked meaningfully at them.

"Oh no. I don't want to intrude-" Arthur started.

"Don't be silly! I want to get a chance to get to know the boy that my son has done a magnificent job of not telling me about." She glanced at Merlin despairingly.

"I, um...forgot?" Merlin said sheepishly.

Hunith shook her head. "Ah well, what can one do? Still, you must come and have dinner with us. Your family won't mind will they?" Before Arthur could answer she continued, "No, of course they won't. Come in, come in. You're letting all the cold air and bugs in." She moved back into the house.

Merlin smiled apologetically at Arthur. "Sorry about her, I didn't know she was coming down."

Arthur shrugged. "It's never too soon to meet the parents, right?"

"So you're my boyfriend now?" the dark haired boy asked suddenly.

"Yes. I mean, aren't we? We've been on a date and everything, so I just assumed. You don't mind, do you?"

Merlin laughed at the confused look on Arthur's face. "It's something I think I could get used to," he replied cheekily as he walked into the house.

"Good," Arthur shot back, shutting the door behind him as he entered the warmth of Merlin's home.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Days to write, minutes to comment – please do!


	7. Chapter 7

**Title:** COD (Centre of Detention) Chapter 7

**Author:** topperchar

**Characters:** Merlin/Arthur, very small amounts of Gwen/Lancelot and Morgana/Leon, and various OCs and other canon characters.

**Rating:** NC-17

**Word Count: **6,108

**Summary: **In Merlin's opinion, Arthur Pendragon is a complete prat. Isn't it odd how quickly and wholly a person's opinion can change? A tale of how a few detentions, a couple of arguments and a kiss can change your life. High school AU

**Warnings: **Naughty language, tiny bit of blaspheming. The rating is for the language not anything else. So much fluff you may end up with tooth decay.

**A/N:** I am so sorry this has taken so long! I fear that I have turned into one of those updaters who take forever and a day to update and then everyone is like 'Grr, we must kill them!' So please don't grr or try to kill me! I have had exams and they have been keeping me so busy it is actually ridiculous. I cannot wait for them to be over. Only one more week and then I will be free and back to updating regularly – promise! I also apologize profusely for the absurd amount of fluffy fluffiness in this. Merlin is acting like a lovesick girl (I don't even know why) and Arthur is acting like some kind of weird freaky knight-boy (again, I don't even know why!). And I love all of my beautiful lovely commenters! You are the bestest people in the whole world and I love you all! *Throws out more cyber-cookies in the shape of Merlin and Arthur*

**Disclaimer:** All characters are the property of the BBC. Everything else is the product of my odd mind. Enjoy!

* * *

The dinner with his mother hadn't gone as awfully as Merlin had expected. Apparently, Arthur could charm a troll out of a rage if he wanted. Merlin knew of the dangers of Arthur's charm as he had been on the receiving end of it more than once and it had a strange habit of getting the boy whatever he wanted. And if he wanted Merlin's mother to like him then that was what would happen.

Hunith had taken an immediate shine to the blonde and his impeccable manners. She had thought it was adorable that he had held out Merlin's chair out for him, even though Merlin had hated it and sent his new boyfriend death glares for the duration of the main course. And when Arthur had offered up both his and Merlin's (reluctant) services for the washing up of the dishes she looked like she wanted to start picking out wedding clothes.

Gaius, on the other hand, wasn't so keen on the wedding plans when he entered the kitchen to find the two boys covered in bubbles and rolling around on the floor. Merlin's mother had brushed it off as adolescent fun, but then she had ordered them to clean up. This course of action only resulted in more mess because, as soon as Hunith and Gaius had left the kitchen, Arthur had shoved a handful of bubbles in Merlin's face and rubbed some into his hair for good measure – and really, how was Merlin supposed to _not _retaliate to that? Eventually, the kitchen was clean (although Arthur and Merlin were decidedly not) and Arthur went home. Merlin was reluctant to see him go, but even more reluctant to talk to his mother and uncle about the date and what they thought of Arthur.

However, of course they caught him before he could make his grand escape upstairs. His mother said a load of sap about how it was obvious that they 'needed each other' and Gaius repeated his earlier warning of 'don't do anything stupid.' Merlin had smiled and shrugged and blushed and pretended to yawn and act tired. His mother sent him up to bed with a kiss on a cheek, Gaius saw straight through his escapade, but just shook his hean d, ruffled his hair and wished him a good night's sleep.

Merlin did have a good night's sleep; one of the best in a long time.

* * *

After a fantastic weekend with his mother, Merlin was unsure as to whether or not he was looking forward to school. On one hand, school was _school_ and no child in their right mind was really supposed to like the experience especially not after a brilliant and tiring weekend. On the other, being at school meant being with Arthur and Merlin had missed him more than was plausible seen as it had only been two days since they had last been in each others company. Nevertheless, he couldn't help the thrill that went down his spine at seeing the spotless red car parked at the end of the drive.

"I'll see you later Gaius," Merlin called as he grabbed his jacket and headed for the door.

"Forgetting something Merlin?" came his uncle's reply.

Merlin stuck his head of unruly dark hair back round the corner to see Gaius standing with his school bag dangling from his hand. "Oh," he scurried back and grabbed the bag. "Thanks Gaius, I'll see you later." This time he made it out of the door and into the car without any qualms. "Hi," he said breathlessly to the blonde beside him.

"Hey yourself," Arthur replied with a sharp smile. Merlin giggled at the greeting which seemed to have become a thing of theirs. He kind of liked it – they had a thing.

Merlin resisted the urge to lean over and kiss him, though his palms were itching to touch that glorious skin. He didn't quite know why he resisted the urge; Arthur was his boyfriend now after all. It was probably because of the strange idea that seemed to have taken root in his head that he wanted their first kiss to be special and...well, sort of epic. Not that any kiss that Arthur was likely to give was going to be anything else but epic – Merlin just wanted it to be Hollywood worthy. Something that directors would hear about and think, "Damn, why didn't we think of that?" Merlin wanted to hang his head in shame; he truly was turning into a girl.

"So how are you?" Arthur asked as he reached out to attempt to smooth Merlin's hair into something vaguely resembling order.

Merlin swallowed – having Arthur so close was doing strange things to him. "Oh, you know, good." And if that wasn't the most ridiculous reply Merlin had ever heard, he didn't know what was. "You?"

Arthur nodded, leaning back to view his handiwork. It would do. He started the car and pulled away. "I'm very well, thank you. How was the weekend with your mother?"

"It was really nice," Merlin replied with a grin. "It was great to see her again. She's in love with you; I think you may need to find a way to reject advances from your boyfriend's mother, be warned."

Arthur laughed at that, loudly. "She's a very lovely woman. Very... unique." It was Merlin's turn to laugh. "Besides, what makes you think I'm going to want to reject her advances? Who knows, your mother may have stolen my heart."

"You wait till you taste her cookies, your heart will come running back to me," Merlin told him imperiously.

Arthur slipped his hand into Merlin's with another laugh. "We'll see."

"Prat," Merlin laughed. Arthur shot him a quick grin before they descended into a companionable silence.

When they arrived at school, Arthur came round to open Merlin's door because he was annoyingly nice like that. Merlin attempted to jump out of the car before he could, but had forgotten that he was still buckled in. The effect was painful. After unbuckling himself, he clambered out of the door (that Arthur was holding like some kind of freaky doorman) and swung his bag onto his shoulder. He peered around for Morgana and Gwen. Before he had a chance to locate them, Arthur slipped his arm round Merlin's waist. The dark haired boy nearly screamed. Thankfully, he didn't, but he did jump very high and stare at Arthur as if he was crazy.

"What?" the blonde asked. "Am I not allowed to show affection in public?"

Merlin blushed. "No, no, of course. You just shocked me that's all. Sorry."

Arthur shrugged. "You needn't apologize."

Merlin suddenly noticed that they seemed to have an extensive audience. They all seemed shocked by the arm round Merlin's waist as well. He tried not to notice them staring as he and Arthur walked up the steps to the school. Arthur's friends were there.

The look on their faces was priceless as they walked past. They stared at Arthur, who merely smiled and said a quick, "Hey guys." before continuing on. Merlin couldn't contain the joy in his chest at their astonishment; it broke out as a broad grin across his face. _Ha,_ he thought viciously, _serves them right! _

Yet Merlin still felt a little niggle of apprehension in the pit of his stomach. What they had said to him the other day had made him nervous. He glanced over at Arthur. He looked like he was on top of the world – far happier than Merlin had ever seen him before. He was happy because of Merlin, wasn't he? He'd never do anything that would hurt him, would he?

Arthur turned to look at him and frowned. His arm tightened around Merlin as he asked, "Is something wrong?"

Merlin shook his head and smiled. No, Arthur would never do anything like that. His stupid friends had just been jealous and were clearly trying to upset him. Merlin fought down the foreboding feeling and glanced towards the source of a familiar voice as it called his name.

"Merlin!" The crowd that appeared to be following the boys everywhere parted and Gwen came into view towing Lance, Morgana and Leon behind her. The latter two seemed to have acquired a strange disease that caused their bodies and mouths to stick to each other. Merlin squinted at them and tried to figure out whose hand was groping Morgana's butt and if they knew that her (adoptive) brother was standing 5 feet away.

"Hi guys," Merlin replied cheerily. Arthur glared at his best friend and sister.

Lance cleared his throat to try to clear the tension slightly. "So how was your weekend?"

"Shut up Lance," Gwen said quickly. "No one wants to hear about their weekend. I want to know about the date." She looked like she was bursting to squeal, jump up and down and clap her hands. Merlin concluded that Gwen wasn't very good at discretion either.

"Um..." Merlin started looking at Arthur for support. He seemed just as lost as Merlin. "It was fun."

"Did you kiss?" Gwen asked excitedly.

Morgana pulled away from Leon with a 'pop'. "What's this about Merlin and Arthur kissing?" she asked blearily. Her lips were swollen, but – somehow – her lipstick was still perfect. She was obviously a sorceress.

Merlin despaired over his friend's lack of sensitivity to topics that should _under no circumstances be discussed about in front of Arthur freaking Pendragon of all people_. He also despaired over their ineptness at reading his death glare mind telepathy skills that were saying, very loudly, 'Shut-the-hell-up-before-I-kill-you-and-prevent-you-from-ever-having-sex-with-either-of-the-pretty-boys-you-are-standing-next-to-ever-again!'

They were saved by the bell ringing; Merlin let out a sigh of relief and laughed as Arthur did the same. "I'll see you at lunch then?" the blonde asked, sounding like he already knew the answer.

Merlin replied anyway, "Yeah. See you."

They parted ways; Merlin tried to resist running after the blonde in an awful imitation of an airport moment and he really needed to stop having such sappy thoughts before he did something ridiculous like start reading romance novels and watching chick flicks. Oh wait, he already did that. Merlin shook his head.

Morgana and Gwen then came up to flank his sides. "So?" the tall pale girl started as she and her evil minion linked arms with him.

"So?" Merlin swallowed. He was trapped. He had two hours with them and no escape and they had already started on their terrifying interrogation. Merlin tried to look on the positive; if he was crying at chick flicks and reading romance novels then maybe he would like gossiping about dates too. He doubted it, but he was trying to be positive so he kept an open mind.

"Tell us what happened then!" Gwen said as though the answer to Merlin's ridiculous question was obvious.

"There's nothing really to tell..." Merlin started.

"Where did you go?" Morgana demanded.

"Did you hold hands?" Gwen chirped happily.

"Did he grope you through those hideously tight jeans that Gwen told me you wore?"

"Did he kiss you? Was he any good? Oh, I bet he's a great kisser. Is he a great kisser?"

"Did you shag him? Not that I really want to know the size of my brother's dick, but I do want to know if you did him. Was it in the back of his car? That would be so typical of Arthur-"

"Oh my God, no!" Merlin cut her off. "No, no, no, no, no. No! We went to the cinema, which was fun. Sure we held hands, but it was totally innocent. No, he did not grope me! And my jeans were not that tight thank you very much! We still haven't kissed yet, which is moderately disappointing. And we have most certainly not shagged and it was definitely not in the back of Arthur's car!" He tried to ignore the fact that he was finding sex in the back of Arthur's car a definitive turn on at that moment; he could only hope that he wasn't developing a new kink for blonde prats and red shiny sport cars.

Morgana sighed. "We're going to need more than that if you want to satisfy us Merlin," she told him dramatically.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Merlin asked cautiously.

"Oh, don't worry," Gwen slipped in before Morgana. "We have plenty of questions."

They smiled evilly. Merlin groaned. This was going to be a long two hours.

* * *

Someone had slowed down time – Merlin was sure of it. Lunch could not have come around so slowly. He had finally liberated himself from the cruel clutches of the crazy witches who he called his friends and managed to escape to the canteen. Lance and Leon were already seated at Morgana, Gwen and his usual table. Apparently, the group had adopted these two as well as Arthur. Merlin shrugged, he was always open to strays. Grabbing a sandwich and bottle of water, Merlin made his way over to them. He hadn't spoken to Lancelot a lot and he hadn't spoken to Leon at all, but Gwen and Morgana seemed to like them and his girls had taste.

"Hello," he said shyly with what he hoped was a friendly smile.

"Hi Merlin," Lance said warmly. He scooted over so that Merlin could sit down and smiled in a way that reminded Merlin of a puppy-dog. "How was your lesson?"

Merlin nodded. "It was fun. I'm afraid to tell you that your girlfriends are insane psychopaths, but other than that it was great." He beamed brightly at them, and then noticed Lance looking uncomfortable. Had he said something wrong? "I'm sorry; did I say something to offend you?"

Lance shuffled. "No, no, it's not that." He shuffled again. "Gwen's not my girlfriend."

Merlin frowned. "She's not?" he asked. "Are you sure?"

Leon laughed and the dark haired boy turned to look at him. "It seems like she is, doesn't it?" Merlin nodded. "Lance is too shy to ask her out."

"I don't want to rush her," Lance mumbled.

"Mate," Merlin started, "if I know Gwen, which I do may I add, she doesn't want someone who will slowly woo her into a relationship. She wants some guy who will come along and sweep her off her feet. So just do it already, get sweeping."

Leon laughed again. Merlin beamed at him; he seemed to have made a good impression on him and Lance was friends with everyone. However, the other boy remained looking sheepish. "I don't really know how to sweep her off her feet. I don't want to mess up. And Leon had it so easy. All he had to do was look at Morgana and she had her tongue down his throat. I don't know what to do."

"Ask her out?" Merlin supplied.

"How?" It was lucky Lance was pretty because with brains like that Merlin didn't see him getting far in any business.

"I normally find that going up to someone you want to go out with and saying something along the lines of, 'Hi, want to go out?' works. But that could just be me."

Lance sighed. Leon laughed again. "Take the advice, just ask her out already. It's obvious she loves you."

He perked up slightly at that. "You think she loves me?"

Merlin stared at him in disbelief. The poor guy had obviously been dropped on his head at birth. "Speak of the devil," he muttered as Morgana and Gwen skipped over.

"Hi," the smaller girl said breathlessly, staring at Lance. Merlin moved out of the way so that she could sit next to him. Morgana didn't even greet Leon; she just slid into his lap and ignored her lunch, her mouth was preoccupied anyway.

Merlin glanced between the two couples. Awkward. Where was Arthur when you needed him? As if he had read Merlin's thoughts, the blonde slipped into the vacant chair beside him. "Hi." He beamed at Arthur.

"Hey yourself," Arthur replied. He surveyed his sister, Gwen and his two best friends. "Is it just me or does it seem like our table has been hit by the love bug?"

Merlin nodded sombrely. "I think it has."

Arthur shrugged, stole a bit of Merlin's sandwich and swung his arm across the back of his chair. "Well, we don't want to be the odd ones out now, do we?"

He tried not to blush, he really did. "No, I guess not." And then they started acting as sickeningly lovesick as the other two, although – sadly – still no kissing. Merlin feared that their besotted googly eyes were the worst out of everyone's. Arthur stole some more of his sandwich. He smiled fondly; he loved being in love.

* * *

The last lesson of the day was drama, which was...eventful. Miss Horne insisted that Arthur and Merlin go together, which was unsurprising; there was no complaint from either boy this time, however. Luckily, they weren't doing the balcony scene again and so Merlin was actually allowed to play a male character. Then came the drama.

"Drama in drama, how exciting?" Morgana muttered as the class watched Richard punch Stephen in the face again. They were standing well back while Miss Horne tried (and failed) to break them apart.

"Why are they fighting?" Merlin asked, he leant back against Arthur who had snaked his arms round Merlin's waist and propped his chin onto Merlin's shoulder. He felt the blonde shrug.

"Who knows?" he replied. "Stephen probably kissed Louise and now Richard's upset."

"Louise is going out with Richard?" Morgana queried. "Why did I not know this?"

Arthur smirked. "I have no idea. You're clearly deaf and blind if you haven't seen them."

Morgana looked like she was going to hit him for a second. "What he means," Leon quickly cut in before any more fists could fly, "is that they are all over each other all the time, though I'm sure that it is easy to not notice."

"Oh," Morgana shrugged. "Ok."

Gwen bit her lip and twisted her hands in worry. "Do you think we should help Miss Horne? They shouldn't really be fighting; maybe we should go and stop them – someone might get hurt."

Leon gave Lance a shove. "Go on Lance; do as your lady says."

Lance scowled at his friend, but went to go and help the teacher anyway. With Lance's help they had managed to split up the fight in no time at all. Just as everyone was returning to their work, the bell rang.

"Well thank God for that," Arthur muttered. "If I have to hear one more 'Do you bite your thumb at me sir?' then I may be forced to bite someone's goddamn thumb off."

Merlin chuckled as Morgana said, "Don't threaten to bite people's thumbs off Arthur darling; cannibalism isn't attractive in a man."

Arthur's retort was cut short as Miss Horne came tottering over to them. "You didn't get a chance to perform," she told them mournfully as if they hadn't realised that they didn't perform their scene.

"Maybe next time," Merlin replied with a shrug and a small smile.

She nodded, and then appeared to brighten as an idea came to her. "You can do it now!"

"I beg your pardon," Arthur said politely pretending that he hadn't heard while conveying that they really didn't want to perform.

"I was so looking forward to seeing your piece and since you couldn't do it in the lesson you can do it now instead."

"But it's the end of the day," Merlin told her.

"You don't mind staying do you?" Before either boy could come up with an excuse she had clapped her hands in that irritatingly excited way and giggled, "Brilliant. I just need to go and sort some things out and then I'll come right back and you can show me what you've done."

As she skipped away Morgana started cackling. "Bad luck, boys." She ruffled Arthur's hair. He growled at her.

Gwen was slightly more sympathetic. "We'll see you tomorrow," she murmured as she pulled Merlin into a hug.

Lance and Leon did a funny head-bob thing and gave them both claps on the shoulder. Merlin assumed this was the manly way of saying goodbye to someone. He didn't head-bob back – certain that he would look like a demented nodding dog if he tried – but waved and smiled instead.

The hall was completely empty, Merlin and Arthur left alone. "How long do you think that thing is going to take?" the dark haired boy asked.

"I don't know."

Merlin glanced around the hall. There was a piano standing at one end (how long had the school had a piano?) looking grand and imposing. He glanced over at Arthur to see him staring at the instrument as well. It was beautiful, long and sleek and black, and it was sure to sound as wonderful as it appeared. He was going to go over and prod a few keys when a startling thought hit him. His gasp drew Arthur's attention.

"Something wrong?" the blonde asked while he watched Merlin tip the contents of his school bag onto the floor.

"I think I left my keys in maths," Merlin grumbled, rummaging through his things now spread across the floor.

"Why did you have your keys out in maths?" Arthur asked in bewilderment, wrinkling his nose in a way that told Merlin he was an idiot and how the hell can someone wrinkle their nose in a way that makes you feel like an idiot? Only Arthur could ever achieve anything like that.

Merlin exhaled his annoyance. "Don't ask," he muttered darkly. "I'm just going to quickly run up there and get them ok?"

Arthur shrugged and nodded. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, it's all right. You stay here; if Miss Horne comes back then you can tell her where I've gone." The dark haired boy was already making his way over to the exit. "I'll see you in a bit."

"Yeah, see you."

Merlin practically ran out of the hall; keen to retrieve his keys and go back to see Arthur. He nearly tripped and went flying up the stairs, but managed to stay upright. Maths was a long run from drama and Merlin was breathless when he reached his classroom. The keys were lying exactly where he had expected them to be and a jolt of relief ran through his chest when he saw them. As soon as they were back in the (relative) safety of his hand, he started racing back out of the room and down the stairs.

He was forced to slow to a walk as he neared the entrance to the hall. His heart was beating furiously against his chest and his breath was coming fast. Pulling in gulpfuls of air, he paused outside the door not wanting Arthur to see him in such a state. It would only highlight how unfit he was – leading to merciless teasing. As he stood getting his breath back the sound of a piano drifted through the door.

Notes sang through the air and Merlin stood and listened. He didn't recognize the piece as the tempo sped and slowed in time with the music. It was clear that someone was playing – and that someone was very good – but who? Arthur had been the only one in there. Miss Horne could have returned, but Merlin knew for a fact that she didn't play. Had someone else gone in to play? It wasn't Arthur; he didn't play the piano, did he? If he did then he had never told Merlin.

Silently, the dark haired boy pushed open the door and shuffled in. He gazed across the hall where, seated at the piano and playing single-mindedly, was Arthur. So he did play. Well that answered the question of the phantom pianist and also why the blonde had been staring – almost yearning – for the instrument.

Merlin stepped to the edge of the hall and skirted round to stand by Arthur, staying in the shadows out of sight. He had a feeling that if Arthur realised that he had an audience he would probably stop playing, which was definitely the last thing Merlin wanted.

He found himself hiding half behind a curtain about five feet away from his _boyfriend_ (it still left Merlin feeling giddy, excited and a little weird using that word – even if it was only in his head) watching the muscles flex in his back under the pristine white shirt as he played. Merlin became caught up in the sound of the music and Arthur's hand – how he had never noticed how beautifully formed those hands were before, Merlin didn't know – dancing across the keys. The notes swirled around him and pulled him in, making him take an unconscious step forward.

Arthur's fingers were flying from key to key as the music sped again. Merlin bit his lip and his heart skipped – the song was reaching its climax. It slowed slightly and went higher before Arthur finished with a flourish an octave lower. Merlin had to restrain himself from clapping – he didn't actually want to give Arthur a heart attack. Instead he stepped forward into the light, making a lot of noise in the process, to alert Arthur to his presence.

When the blonde saw him he nearly jumped out of his seat. Then, after he had recovered, he _did_ jump out of his seat, slamming the piano shut in the process and looking extremely embarrassed. "I was just... tinkering," he explained lamely.

Merlin raised his eyebrows. "That's what you call tinkering? I'd like to see what you call playing."

The other boy shrugged and continued to look sheepish. He was slowly edging away from the piano like it would suddenly pounce and attack him. Merlin felt his heart sink in disappointment; Arthur wasn't going to play anymore.

Just as he was about to request for Arthur to get his butt back on the stool and play something else, the secret piano-genius asked, "Did you find your keys?"

Merlin nodded and held out his hand which held the keys.

"Good," Arthur replied shortly. After a moment of silence he continued, "Miss Horne isn't back yet."

"I can see that," Merlin returned with a smirk.

"If she isn't back by twenty-to do you want to go?" The blonde was still shuffling awkwardly away from the instrument that Merlin was desperate for him to return to.

"No," Merlin replied bluntly; Arthur's eyes bugged in shock comically. As if to prove his point, Merlin strode forward and perched on the end of the piano stool. "I want to hear you play again," he told Arthur.

Arthur blushed – actually blushed – and that certainly wasn't something you saw everyday. "I'm not that good," he mumbled, cautiously making his way back to the object he had been retreating from like it was an unidentified enemy weapon.

Merlin rolled his eyes, grabbed Arthur's wrist and pulled him down onto the stool. "Shut up Arthur. You're amazing, I heard you."

The other boy shrugged. "I could be better."

A laugh came from Merlin. "Everything could be better. Ever heard the phrase: 'There's always room for improvement'? Just because you're not the best you can be doesn't mean you're not good. You can live your entire life trying to be better and I'm almost certain that, by the end of it, there is still room for improvement." The dark haired boy had been lifting the lid of the piano and running the tips of his fingers across the smooth, immaculate keys during his mini-speech so when he looked up to find Arthur staring at him appraisingly – his sapphire eyes burning into his – it was more than a little disconcerting. "What?" he asked in a tiny voice, a blush to match Arthur's earlier one tainting his cheeks.

"You're a lot smarter than you look," Arthur replied.

Merlin smiled. "Thanks... I think. I'm sure there was a compliment in there somewhere.'

Arthur shrugged again, but did not answer. His wonderful, crooked, sharp-toothed smile spread across his lips.

"Play for me," Merlin demanded, feeling slightly breathless. He was certain something was happening, he just wasn't sure what it was.

"For you," Arthur sighed, "I suppose I can." He smiled then obediently placed his hands on the keys and started playing. The song was sweet and one Merlin vaguely recognised. He thought his mother might have played a CD back home and this song was on it. He shook his head free of thoughts. He didn't want to think. He just wanted to listen.

Merlin sat, still and quiet, beside Arthur as he played for him. There was something oddly memorising about the way Arthur's deft fingers glided over the keys. It seemed as natural as breathing to him – Merlin's heart lodged in his throat and his breathing hitched a little. Why was Arthur playing a piano affecting him so much anyway?

When the song ended, Merlin didn't hesitate to clap this time. Arthur shook his head and chuckled.

"How long have you been playing?" Merlin asked curiously once he had stopped clapping.

"A few years," Arthur answered dismissively.

"How long's that?"

"Since I was six."

"Could you even reach the peddles when you were six?" Merlin queried with a frown.

A pause. "No," Arthur said slowly.

Merlin laughed. "Why did you start?"

"You're full of questions today," the blonde pointed out.

The other boy shrugged. "I'm curious. Besides, I'm always full of questions."

Arthur tilted his head to the side and looked at Merlin discerningly. "Touché."

"So why did you start learning?"

"It's a very nice instrument and music is supposed to enhance your thinking by creating links between the right side of your brain and the left."

Merlin wrinkled his nose. "But I don't play an instrument."

"Perhaps that is why your thought process is so inferior to everyone else's," Arthur suggested with a smirk.

"Hey!" Merlin hit him, and then sighed. "But you couldn't have known that when you were six. Or is this another of those decisions that your father made for you?"

"My father didn't want me to learn the piano."

"Why would your father not want you to learn? Does he have something against pianists?"

"Quite the contrary actually," Arthur replied.

Merlin frowned. "I'm confused."

Arthur laughed and ruffled his hair affectionately. "You really want to know?"

The dark haired boy nodded.

"Ok, I'll tell you." Arthur took a breath and began, "My mother used to play the piano. She was amazing – one hundred times better than me. I know, I've heard the recordings. She used to love playing; when she was pregnant with me, she would play all the time. Apparently she wanted to teach me, show me how to be as brilliant as her."

"Your father told you this?" What possessed Merlin to ask the question, he didn't know.

Arthur shook his head. "My father does not speak of my mother. I've picked this up from maids and other servants who were around when my mother was still alive."

Merlin had to physically bite his lips to contain the, "You have servants?" that he wanted to ask.

"Anyway, when she died my father moved her piano into the shed at the bottom of the garden; until I found it when I was playing. It took three days for my father to realise that I was trying to teach myself, a further three weeks for him to agree to move it back into the house and three more months for me to convince him to let me have lessons."

"Wow," Merlin breathed. "Do you still have lessons now?"

"Yep, every Friday after school," hr answered cheerfully. "Three thirty to four thirty with Mr Geoffrey Monmouth."

"Every Friday..." Merlin repeated slowly. "Is that why you couldn't drive me home on Friday – because you were doing 'something'?"

Arthur nodded sheepishly. "I still should have taken you home first, sorry."

Merlin shook his head. "Don't worry about it, but," he paused, "why didn't you tell me? Not that I feel the need to know where you are every second of every day; I'm just curious to know why you never told anyone and why you've never performed in the music soiree or anything. Does Morgana even know that you play?"

"Morgana knows, but she would never tell anyone," the blonde explained.

"Why?"

"Because it's not expected."

"What do you mean?" Merlin asked in confusion.

"I'm not expected to play an instrument and so nobody knows that I do," Arthur clarified.

Merlin shuffled closer to Arthur on the stool and placed his hand on his knee. "I think it's time you stopped doing what's expected," Merlin whispered, sliding closer another couple of inches.

Arthur slipped one arm round Merlin's waist and bought his other hand up to his face. "I think I might do just that," he murmured back. His voice was a low buzz between them and Merlin could feel his breathing become shallower and his heart begin to thump against his chest. It felt like it was beating so hard that he was sure Arthur would hear and laugh and make a stupid comment and pull away and this moment would just turn into another of those almost kisses. But he didn't.

Arthur came closer and before Merlin knew it, the gap between them was closed. Arthur's body was pressed against his from his thigh upwards – even his foot had snaked round Merlin's in a game of footsies. Arthur's lips – Merlin found – were not as soft as they looked. They were chapped and when Arthur shifted slightly – his head tilting to the side so that their noses were not crushed together – the rough slide of his lips nearly made Merlin groan.

Merlin pressed harder and slipped the hand on Arthur's knee up to his nape, pulling him even closer. The blonde didn't quarrel and slid his own hand from Merlin's cheek down and down till it was resting on his thigh, fingertips just brushing the inside of his leg. Merlin's legs fell open of their own accord, a silent plea for more.

When Arthur's tongue pressed against Merlin's lips, he opened without hesitation. Arthur's mouth was hot and his tongue slid across his teeth, exploring his mouth. Merlin bought his other hand up to slide into Arthur's hair and tug him nearer still – their chests were pressed tightly together and Arthur wasn't even trying to pretend that he wasn't groping Merlin's arse through his school trousers. This time when Arthur's tongue dragged against Merlin's the slighter boy was not able to contain his moan. Arthur's arm tightened round him in response and the hand feeling up his arse slid back between his legs. Merlin whimpered in anticipation. It was Arthur's turn to groan when the dark haired boy bit his lip lightly and then soothed it with a swipe of his tongue.

A cough behind them made the boys leap apart. Merlin fell backwards off the stool and Arthur elbowed the piano. They turned wide and faux-innocent eyes on the intruder. Both boys had totally forgotten that they were in school.

Miss Horne was the one who had interrupted them. She was standing by Merlin's empty bag and smattering of school equipment, Arthur's blazer and bag were just behind her. Her arms were folded and she wore a self-satisfied smirk.

"Sorry to interrupt your fun boys," she began, "I just came to see your performance, although that was performance enough for me." They blushed furiously and exchanged horrified glances. How long had she been there? "I knew that the chemistry between them was too good to be acting," she muttered to herself.

"Um..." Merlin said eloquently as he picked himself up off the floor. "If you don't need us anymore..." he trailed off and Arthur picked up from where he stopped.

"We'll just be going," the blonde said indicating the door.

Miss Horne waved her hand dismissively and Merlin ran over to stuff his things back into his bag with the help of Arthur. They were out of the building and in Arthur's car in under twenty-five second – new record.

"So..." Merlin started shakily.

Arthur glanced over at him with a reckless grin. "Maybe next time should be in private."

"Agreed." Merlin laughed and grinned back. "My room's quite private, you know, if you want. Gaius is at the shop so it'll be just us."

"No interruptions," Arthur stated staring at Merlin.

"No interruptions," he repeated.

"Then hell yes!" Arthur leant over and kissed Merlin firmly before putting the car in drive and speeding away.

* * *

Just so everyone knows, Arthur and Merlin have not gone to have sex, they have gone to make out some more. The first song Arthur played is Prelude op. 32 no 12 in G sharp minor by Rachmaninov and the second song is Le Onde by Ludovico Einaudi – just in case anyone wanted to know.

Thanks for reading! Again, I am so sorry this is so late. Exams! They are demons incarnate!

Days (and when I say days, I mean days) to write, minutes to comment – please do!


	8. Chapter 8

**Title:** COD (Centre of Detention) Chapter 8

**Author:** topperchar

**Characters:** Merlin/Arthur, very small amounts of Gwen/Lancelot and Morgana/Leon, and various OCs and other canon characters.

**Rating:** NC-17

**Word Count: **3,659

**Summary: **In Merlin's opinion, Arthur Pendragon is a complete prat. Isn't it odd how quickly and wholly a person's opinion can change? A tale of how a few detentions, a couple of arguments and a kiss can change your life. High school AU

**Warnings: **Naughty language, tiny bit of blaspheming. The rating is for the language not anything else.

**A/N:** This part is actually relatively short, I don't know why… Hmm, I'll have a word with my muse later. Anyway, I'm so sorry that I'm posting this a day later than I promised, but yesterday the time just flew by and my sister didn't have time to check it over…so you get it today instead! My exams are now finally over, so I will try to keep the time between updates a lot shorter. The teasing about physicians and physicists is there because I have a friend who is a physicist and it drives him crazy when we call him a physician or he meets a person and they think he's a physician. Sorry for my overuse of commas in the last section. I don't really know what happened, apart from the fact that I seemed to momentarily forget how to use any other form of punctuation or complex sentence. And, as always, I love all of my beautiful lovely commenters! You are the bestest people in the whole world and I love you all! Have fun playing with this part!

**Disclaimer:** All characters are the property of the BBC. Everything else is the product of my odd mind. Enjoy!

* * *

The next morning when Merlin saw the shining sporty car pull up he was out of the door and in the passenger seat before his boyfriend had time to cut the engine. He then nearly slithered over into the blonde's lap as he flung himself across the distance between them, wrapped his arms round Arthur's (lean, long, glorious and utterly biteable – the slight love bites Merlin had left yesterday evidence of this) neck and pressed his lips to Arthur's. The kiss was chaste – mainly because Arthur was a little shell-shocked by Merlin's puppy-like enthusiasm – and when the dark haired boy pulled back, he was grinning brightly.

"Hi," he greeted, a little breathless and blushing shyly.

"Hey yourself," Arthur shot back with a chuckle. "Excited to see me?"

Merlin didn't answer; he just reddened further and buckled up his seat belt.

"What lessons have you got today?" the other boy asked, kindly changing the subject, as he started the car and pulled away.

"Maths, Chemistry, Biology, Enrichment and General Studies," he answered. "You?"

Arthur wrinkled his nose as Merlin reeled off his lessons. "You have a pretty shit day," he commented, ignoring Merlin's question.

He shrugged. "It's not all bad. Maths is quite fun and Chemistry is always entertaining when you have Morgana as a lab partner. Biology is all right, I speak to Lance a lot more now, and Enrichment and General Studies are just Enrichment and General Studies – a pointless evil that must be endured by everyone."

Arthur hummed in agreement.

"What do you have anyway?" Merlin asked.

"History, the two pointless evils, English and Physics."

"You took Physics?" Merlin asked, horrified. "Why didn't I know that?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Because you never listen to a word I say, clearly. And yes, I took Physics. Why so shocked?"

"Physics if horrible," the slighter boy replied. He pronounced 'Physics' as if it was a far worse word than 'horrible'.

"Physics is not horrible!" Arthur defended avidly. "Chemistry is horrible."

Merlin disagreed. "No way. Chemistry is a hundred times better than Physics."

"But if you major in Chemistry then you become a chemist or a pharmacist, which makes you sound like a shop and is just weird."

The 'chemist' stared at him for a moment. "I am seeing more flaws in you logic than usual. You better watch out or soon it'll turn into a sieve."

Arthur returned the stare with raised eyebrows. "You're such a freak, has anyone ever told you that?"

"You love it," Merlin shot back with a cheeky grin.

The blonde sighed long-sufferingly. "I suppose I do."

Merlin couldn't help but blush. Arthur had just – sort of, in a backwards and not really at all sort of way – admitted that he loved Merlin being freaky. Then he went and ruined it by saying, "If I'm a chemist then you're a physician."

"What the hell Merlin?" Arthur frowned at him. "Someone who studies Physics is a physicist _not _a physician. Physicians are doctors, like your uncle."

"Like you," Merlin quipped, pleased that he had found something that _he_ could tease _Arthur_ about.

"No," Arthur said slowly as if he was talking to a particularly dim child. "I would be a physicist."

"Physician," the other boy returned without missing a beat.

Arthur glowered at him. "Physicist."

"A physician then, yeah?"

"Phy-si-cist."

"Physician."

"I hate you."

"Love you too, sweetheart."

* * *

Merlin refused to tell Morgana anything about what he and Arthur had got up to when they had been forced to stay for their 'performance'; he still felt embarrassment tug at his gut whenever he recollected Miss Horne walking in on them. He partly kept it from her because he wanted it to be something that was his and Arthur's secret for as long as possible (because he was a girl like that); partly because he knew he would have to repeat everything to Gwen later and she would get upset that Morgana had known before her; partly because they were in Chemistry and their old table had only just been replaced – not to mention the teacher was shooting them warning glances every three minutes; and partly because knowing something that Morgana didn't tortured her and torturing Morgana was fun – she did it often enough to everyone else that getting your own back always guaranteed to be entertaining and enlightening. Merlin grinned evilly. Morgana noticed.

"I think it's mightily unfair that you're refusing to tell me anything," she said with a pout as she threw a strange unidentified substance into a random pot. The result wasn't quite an explosion, but their pot was hissing, fizzing and emitting gases and no one else's was. Perhaps Morgana and chemicals was a bad mix, period – even without her being distracted by her disturbingly attractive brother and gawkily adorable best friend, together, doing...things.

Merlin pried the substance out of her hand and moved it out of reach while she stared in shock at the purple puffs of smoke that were being produced by their experiment. "That one looks a little like a bunny," Merlin commented, poking at the bunny-shaped cloud with his pen.

Morgana tilted her head to the side and squinted at the one Merlin just poked. "Yes, it does," she agreed after a moment.

That was when the teacher came over to give them both disapproving looks. Morgana smiled innocently. Merlin smiled guiltily. They both tried to wave away the purple clouds as they murmured in unison, "Sorry Professor Anhora."

The teacher shook his head and walked away.

* * *

The chance for Merlin to speak to both Gwen and Morgana without any interruptions didn't come around till enrichment. By this point the girls were jumping with excitement. Merlin listened as the teacher rambled on and on about the task. When he was, eventually, finished he turned to his friends, sighed and said, "Ok, what do you want to know?"

Morgana immediately asked, "Have you shagged him yet?" Her loud question earned them a few odd looks; she ignored them and stared at Merlin.

He shook his head.

"You've kissed though, haven't you?" Gwen was doing an extremely poor job of hiding her excitement as she leant in and lowered her voice slightly.

He blushed and nodded.

Gwen and Morgana's reactions were priceless. Morgana bought a manicured hand up to cover her mouth as she gasped loudly and her eyes widened; then her hand lowered to reveal an evil smile – Merlin didn't even want to know what she was thinking. Gwen wasn't so subtle. She squeaked, squealed and bobbed like she needed the toilet. A far less evil smile graced her lips. Her reaction was almost identical to the one she had when Merlin told her Arthur had asked him out. And the people surrounding them stared at her as if she was insane – almost exactly as they had before.

Morgana placed her hand on the other girl's head to stop her continuous bobbing. "So, you kissed. Was it any good?"

"I'm not telling you that," Merlin murmured, his blush darkening to a furious red.

"Right," Morgana said slowly and sceptically. "So, basically, you're answering, 'Yes Morgana it was amazing and I got a hard-on' then?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I sincerely dislike you."

She pinched his cheeks in response.

"You have to tell us _everything_ that happened!" Gwen squeaked, rejoining the conversation and receiving more worried glanced from the people around them.

"There's not really anything to tell..." Merlin trailed off under Morgana's hard stare and Gwen's baleful gaze. He rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll tell you, but it's really not that interesting."

His friends looked pleased with themselves. Merlin scowled.

"We were waiting for Miss Horne when I realised I had left my keys in maths." Matching frowns crossed the girl's faces and Morgana opened her mouth, but Merlin cut her off before she could speak. "Don't ask." Wisely, she swallowed her question. "I went to get my keys. I came back. Arthur was playing the piano-"

"Arthur plays the piano?" Gwen asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I was shocked too. Anyway, I went and sat next to him. He played something else. We talked. We kissed. Ta-da!" he finished quickly.

"What did you talk about?" Morgana asked.

He shrugged. "Stuff."

"What stuff?"

"This and that."

"Expand on that."

"I don't want to."

"Merlin," Gwen whined before Morgana could throw back another useless retort. "You have to talk about this kind of thing."

"Why?"

"Because," she answered and that wasn't really an answer at all.

"Because what?"

"It's healthy."

"Really?" he asked dubiously.

Morgana and Gwen both nodded.

"I'll take your word for that."

For a second it seemed like Morgana was going to push it further, but she didn't. Instead, Gwen said, "What did you do after?"

"Er..." He was unsure whether he should really tell them that Miss Horne came in; he didn't really think he should... "Miss Horne walked in on us." ...or he'd just blurt it out anyway.

Gwen managed to stifle her laughter – just. Morgana didn't even try. "Oh Merlin," the darker girl soothed, patting his hand. "You poor thing."

He smiled weakly at her.

Once his other friend had finished wiping the tears from her eyes, she said, "That's hilarious. What did you do?"

"We left," Merlin stated.

"I bet she was totally perving on you."

Merlin winced internally. "I think she may have been."

Morgana ruffled his hair. "Don't worry Merlin," she said cheerily. "You'll be shagging in the back of Arthur's car in no time."

He didn't even deign that comment with a response.

* * *

When Merlin walked into the dining room, he automatically looked towards their table. The last time he had seen Arthur was at break and he was thirsty for a glimpse of his golden hair and sapphire eyes. However, oddly, Arthur wasn't seated beside Leon and Lance. Merlin frowned, he was sure Arthur and Leon were in the same class. He and the girls quickly grabbed some lunch and moved over to their table.

"Where's Arthur?" he asked after the primary greetings had been exchanged.

Lance and Leon shared a look; the former shook his head- the movement was so slight that Merlin nearly missed it. Leon frowned at Lance and apparently ignored his warning as, when he turned to answer Merlin's question, the other boy's features took on a strained expression.

"He's over there," Leon said indicating behind Merlin with a nod of his head.

Merlin glanced over his shoulder to see Arthur talking to his old group of friends. The blonde seemed angry, but his voice was level as he spoke.

"What're they talking about?" Gwen questioned. "Arthur looks really mad."

Lance shrugged and feigned ignorance. Leon, on the other hand, was less inclined to keep his mouth shut. Merlin wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. "They're having a 'heated discussion' about..." Leon glanced at Merlin then quickly looked away.

"About what?" Morgana placed her hand on Leon's arm and squeezed lightly.

"We don't know," Lance cut in before Leon could reply. His answer had been quick and his eyes were shifting – he was lying.

Merlin frowned, he had a pretty strong feeling that he knew what they were talking about, then pushed his lunch away and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Morgana demanded.

"To see if he's all right. I'll be back in a minute," he muttered, already walking away. He was halfway across the canteen when he paused and wondered what he was going to say to them. None of them were looking his way, all too busy arguing to pay their surroundings any heed. Merlin slipped a little closer and further out of their eye line. He wasn't really sure what possessed him to sneak up to them and listen to their conversation, but he did.

One of the boys was speaking (Merlin remembered him to be the one who had pinned him against the wall and teased him about Arthur) and Merlin had to strain slightly to hear what he said. "It's a bet, the boy's a bet. It's nothing, not real. I think you need reminding of that because it looks to us like you're getting in way too deep. He's just a random fuck, like any other, you need to remember where you're priorities lie. You agreed to it; or do you need reminding of that too? You get in, you bang him, you get out, breaking his pathetic little heart in the process. Job done."

Merlin felt his world tilt sickeningly and he had to grab onto a nearby chair to keep his balance. He felt sick – emotions churning in his gut and ramming up his throat,

threatening to escape in a sob or bile. A bet? He had been a bet? Anger, misery, hurt and bitter resentment crashed into his, almost blinding him with their intensity. He was an idiot, a complete and utter idiot, to even contemplate that Arthur would-

Pain struck across his chest and he tried to drown it in anger. Anger was easy. Simple. He understood anger, but the feeling of pain and hurt – so unexpected and sudden – ripping his heart apart and forcing it down. His legs shook, while his stomach was heaved up to hammer at the base of his throat, trying to spill the emotions from his mouth and eyes in the form of tears, irate, cutting words and cries – he didn't understand that at all.

He managed to pull himself back to reality in time to hear Arthur hiss, "It's not like that."

The other boy laughed humourlessly. "So you don't love the little shit then?"

Arthur opened his mouth to reply, his face twisting w ith so much fury he looked like an avenging angel with his blonde hair and cold flint blue eyes, but before he could one of his other friends pointed straight at Merlin and said, "Isn't that him?

Seven pairs of eyes turned to stare at him. Arthur straightened from where he had been hissing in the other boy's face; he paled at the sight of Merlin and his eyes widened. Merlin would've laughed at how ridiculous he looked if he hadn't thought his laughter would turn to hysterical sobbing.

Arthur came forward then, hand reaching for the dark haired boy. "Merlin," he began.

"Shut up." The anger he had been harvesting was coming to the fore and quickly boiling higher. By this point, the surrounding tables had realised that something was happening and silence was quickly invading the room.

"It's not-"

Merlin cut Arthur off again and took a step back as the blonde took one forward. "I can't believe you." He shook his head and tears were beginning to itch at the corners of his eyes. Merlin took another step back as Arthur said his name. Everyone in the dining hall was looking at them and Merlin saw Morgana and Gwen on their feet. He felt stifled and all he wanted to do was run away. So he did.

The sound of Arthur calling his name as he sprinted away chased him down the hall. He pulled in a shuddering breath as the tears finally started falling. Arthur's voice seemed far away, all he could hear were his own feet crashing against the floor. He didn't know why, but no one ever entered the main block corridor at lunch. It had always confused him and he remembered asking Gwen about it when he had first arrived. She had just shrugged and said she didn't know. Merlin briefly wondered if they kept it free so that people who had just had a massive fight in the dining hall could flee the building as fast as possible while feeling so alone it made them want to scratch at their chest to rid themselves of the awful ache that had appeared there.

Finally, Merlin reached the end of the hallway and flung himself through the doors and outside. He was breathless and his side hurt and his breath hitched and stopped and started and he felt like someone was twisting a knife in a fresh wound. And it was raining.

He laughed bitterly. The weather was a perfect reflection of his mood, it was unbelievable. Merlin shook his head at the stereotypical situation; how predictable that it should rain after he had just found out that his boyfriend wasn't actually real and he had only been a bet. He didn't have the energy to run and so he walked dejectedly towards the front gate. His feet dragged along the floor; rain crashed onto him and slipped under his collar and down his back, sticking his shirt to his skin.

"Merlin! Merlin, wait!" The dark haired boy recognised the voice calling his as Arthur's. He didn't wait.

He was nearly out of the gate and away from the school when Arthur caught up to him and grabbed his wrist. Merlin tried wrenching away from his grasp, but Arthur's hold was too tight. "Just listen to me, Merlin please," he pleased, spinning the slighter boy round to face him and dropping his hands to his shoulders to hold him in place. "You don't understand. It's not what you think."

Merlin slapped Arthur's hands away and stepped back out of his reach. He raised his face to glare at the other boy as he laughed, something that sounded acidic and broken. Arthur winced. "I think it is exactly what I think actually." Merlin had to blink the rain out of his eyes and he wasn't sure if the water trailing down his cheeks was tears or had fallen from the sky. "I was a fool to believe that the Great Arthur Pendragon would ever feel anything for me."

Arthur shook his head. He came closer to Merlin. "But I do feel something for you," he had to raise his voice slightly to be heard over the pounding raindrops hitting the floor. "I..." the blonde paused and swallowed.

Merlin could see the nervousness carved deeply in his features. He hated how well he knew the other boy after so little time, or perhaps he only knew the actor – the fake Arthur Pendragon that he wanted everyone to see; everyone to believe. Merlin felt his body start to shake. It had all felt so real! If everything that had happened had been a lie, then why had it all felt so real?

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he nearly missed it when Arthur whispered, "I love you." He looked sincere and his eyes were sparkling with remorse and pain and hope and something that might just have been love.

It made Merlin hate him all the more to know that his tricks and lies were still working on him.

He shook his head and took a step back. "You're lying," he choked out, forcing the happy, warm, hopeful feeling that had swelled at Arthur's words away. "You're just trying to make me forgive you because you haven't won your bet yet. You still need to bang me, right? Well sorry to break it to you Arthur, but that's not going to happen."

"I don't want to!" Arthur quickly defended. "Well, no. Of course I want to, but I don't _want_ to – not like this. I want you to want it too. You know I'd never-"

"I thought you'd never," Merlin spat back, his tone venomous. "But, apparently, I was wrong."

"No, Merlin I _really _like you-"

"Stop lying to me!" Merlin shouted, the pain and anger expanding in him to burst out in a yell.

"I'm not." Arthur pleaded weakly, "Will you just listen to me, please?"

Merlin cut him off again before he could explain. "No! I believed you, I trusted you! And you lied." His voice choked again and it was only then that he realised he was sobbing. The water painting his skin was warm and salty and definitely had not belonged to the sky.

"It was never a lie," Arthur said quietly. "You need to trust me-"

"Trust you?" Merlin asked with another bitter laugh and a twisted a snarl. "Not a mistake I'm likely to make again, I assure you." He took a step back. "I'm not going to let you fool me again." He stumbled further away. "I hate you." Arthur's face fell; it looked like someone had ripped his world form under his feet. _Good,_ Merlin thought nastily, _now he knows how I feel_. "I hate you," he repeated, realising how untrue the words were and hating himself all the more for it. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" His voice gradually rose till he was screaming – wanting the words to be truer every time he repeated them, but only finding that it highlighted the falseness in them.

Then he stifled on a sob, covered his mouth and ran.

* * *

Merlin didn't care about school or the detention he was inevitably going to get for skipping last lesson. He didn't care about his lunch that had been abandoned in the canteen or about Gwen and Morgana who would undoubtedly have a hundred questions for him. And he certainly didn't care about the blonde prat he had left staring after him, or at least he tried to convince himself that he didn't.

All Merlin cared about was going home and sobbing his heart out. And maybe eating a little ice cream (because he was a girl and he really didn't care about what anyone thought of him). And perhaps calling Will to cry down the phone to. And also convincing Gaius to make him a hot chocolate when he got back from work. Merlin swiped viciously at the tears on his face while trying to forget the images of Arthur, soaked to the bone, pleading for him to listen and telling him he loved him.

Merlin groaned – his life had gone totally to shit.

* * *

I'm so sorry! Please don't kill me – it had to be done for the development of the story! But I'm not going to tell you if they make up or not, because I'm a horrible person who is just going to make you all wait :D

Thanks for reading! Days to write, minutes to comment – please do!


	9. Chapter 9

**Title:** COD (Centre of Detention) Chapter 9

**Author:** topperchar

**Characters:** Merlin/Arthur, very small amounts of Gwen/Lancelot and Morgana/Leon, and various OCs and other canon characters.

**Rating:** NC-17

**Word Count: **5,218

**Summary: **In Merlin's opinion, Arthur Pendragon is a complete prat. Isn't it odd how quickly and wholly a person's opinion can change? A tale of how a few detentions, a couple of arguments and a kiss can change your life. High school AU

**Warnings: **Naughty language, tiny bit of blaspheming. The rating is for the language not anything else.

**A/N:** I am so sorry that this has taken so long to post; I am an awful person, I know. I sincerely apologize because I promised this would be up last week and it's wasn't. My life was one big hectic pile of hectic stuff and I totally forgot about a load of commitments and then my internet went down and my muse decided to go on holiday. So I am really sorry that this has taken so long – do you forgive me? Was that enough groveling? I had a nice holiday, thanks for all the people who wished me fun! It was great! Here is the next part – I hope it's ok. My sister is not actually a flower guru and Will is based on a friend I have from the north. And of course, I love all of my beautiful lovely commenters! You are the bestest people in the whole world and I love you all! I hope you enjoy this part!

**Disclaimer:** All characters are the property of the BBC. Everything else is the product of my odd mind. Enjoy!

* * *

Merlin slammed the door on the torrential rain that was beating on the streets and had succeeded in soaking him through. He suppressed a shiver as he ran upstairs to his room while yanking off his soaked blazer and tie. Passing the mirror on his wardrobe door, Merlin caught a glimpse of his reflection.

He looked like crap.

Although he had managed to stop crying, his eyes were still puffy and blood-shot. There were two bright red splashes of colour high on his cheekbones – it was not an attractive blush, but crimson patches which bought his blood-shot eyes into sharp relief. Merlin dragged a hand through his unruly dark hair; it was standing up in tufts that made him look awful and a bit like a cockatiel. Not to mention the fact that it was sopping wet and dripping. He shivered again and turned away from the mirror – the reflection of his big-eared, pale, skinny, tear-stained and drenched self was the last thing he wanted to see.

The dark haired boy dropped down onto the edge of his bed. He was trying to categorise how he felt: he was sad, yes; and he was so angry it almost hurt; but he was also ashamed. Ashamed that he had fallen for it, that he had believed it, that he had trusted...

Merlin sighed and passed a hand across his face. Most of all he just felt lost. When he had been with Arthur, he had fit. With Morgana and Gwen and Lance and Leon he had been happy. Merlin may have grown up in Ealdor and spent some of the fondest moments of his life there, but he didn't consider it home. However, when Merlin had moved here and he had met Gwen and Morgana... something clicked. He wanted to belong here. And he believed that he had, until Arthur –

Merlin shook his head; there was no way he was going to let some stuck-up blonde prat ruin his life. He didn't need a boyfriend and he didn't care that Arthur had only used him for a bet. As Merlin went downstairs to raid the freezer, he felt his heart constrict at the memory of Arthur laughing and sitting in his kitchen. He just kept thinking those words, over and over – _I don't care, I need the prat anyway...Asshole._

He grabbed the phone on his way back upstairs along with his ice cream and Buffy box set. Merlin changed into an old, giant shirt and some joggers before sticking a disk in the DVD player, shoving a spoonful of ice cream (which was way too big to fit in his mouth) into his mouth and calling his oldest and truest friend.

"You better be a beautiful woman who wants to have phone sex with me or I'm hanging up." Was what met Merlin when Will answered. Merlin smiled and the tension filling him drained away at the familiarity.

He selected a random episode and replied, "If it's phone sex then does it really matter if the woman is beautiful or not? You're not going to see her."

There was silence from the other end of the line, then, "You've got a point, mate, but even your voice ain't sexy enough for my standards. I like my partners all seductive and breathy."

"Like the girl in the sat-navs?" Merlin chirped back, licking some more ice cream off the spoon and watching Buffy punch a vampire in the face.

"Merls, mate, I know you ain't the smartest guy around, though I'd expect even you to understand that there ain't actually a chick in the sat-nav. It's a recording."

He closed his eyes briefly – he had missed his friend more than he'd thought. "I missed you too."

Will snorted. "You're a right bloody girl, ain't ya?"

Merlin nodded then realised his friend couldn't see him and said, "Yeah, so?"

A sigh sounded down the phone. "Why didn't you call sooner? You've been gone nearly a month and I haven't even had a bleeding text."

"I'm sorry." The sudden swamp of guilt didn't help with the other emotions Merlin was trying to pretend didn't exist. He wasn't sure if he was calling Will to cry down the phone and talk about 'his feelings' or if he was using the call to run away from everything. "I've been busy. You know, school and all that."

"Uh-huh." Will sounded dubious; it had always been frightening how easily he could read Merlin. "Is the 'all that' in the form of a boy who's broken your heart, by any chance?"

Merlin scowled at the phone. "How did you know that?"

"You only call me when you're either upset or lost. I thought it was unlikely to be lost, because...well, you know, so I chose upset. And you have that 'Will, I'm about to burst into tears and woe about my lost love' tone to your voice."

"I didn't even know I could do that tone with my voice. It's a very accurate tone."

"You have a very expressive voice. Now," Merlin heard shuffling on the end of the line, "tell me all about it."

Merlin bit his lip, felt tears sting at the corners of his eyes and talked.

Will was brilliant, as Will always was whenever Merlin called him to complain, which was worryingly often. He listened to Merlin rant, sob and curse, and then he gave his views. Sometimes, he wouldn't be on Merlin's side, but he would give such brilliant and wise (wise Will, who knew?) advice that it made up for it. Thankfully, this wasn't one of those times.

"What a dick," Will said once Merlin had finished. "What kind of assholes go to this posh school of yours?"

"They're not all like..." Merlin began quietly, but Will cut him off before he could defend the other, nice, students at Camelot Academy.

"He sounds like a tosser, Merls. Why are you with him?"

"I'm not with him anymore."

"I should bloody well hope not. How dare he? Use you as a bet. Who the hell does he think he is, eh? You should report him to the police, Merls."

"And get him done for what?" Merlin demanded as he watched another vampire explode on screen. "Hurting my feelings? Somehow, I don't think that's going to work."

"But he's being unethical, ain't he?"

"You know what unethical means?" Merlin asked in genuine surprise.

"Shut up. He's being immoral as well. The bloody pansy! Tell me where he lives and I'll show him exactly why he shouldn't mess with Merlin Emrys," Will ranted. Merlin could hear his furious pacing.

"Will," he sighed quietly. "It's really sweet that you care so much, but I don't think killing him is necessary."

"I weren't gonna kill him. I was just gonna make sure that he never banged no one ever again."

"You do realise that you just used a double-negative, don't you?"

"Shut up," Will said again. "So this Arthur guy thinks he can hurt you? Well, Merls, all I have to say is don't bloody let him! I know what you're like; you'll cry about him for months and months and you'll lose what little social life you have. So don't let this cock beat you. He's an arse and really don't deserve your attention, yeah? You could do a hundred times better and you know it."

"Have I ever told you how much I love you, Will?" Merlin asked through his laughter.

"Not nearly enough, but now ain't a good time for it. I don't do rebounds, baby."

The sound of a door opening and shutting resonated from downstairs. Merlin glanced at the clock; it was nearly the time that he got home from school. "I've got to go; Gaius is here. I'll call you later, ok?"

His friend sighed. "No you won't. Don't let the prat get to you and at least e-mail me if a call is too much. Or a text; just remember that I'm always on the end of a phone if you need me."

"Thanks Will," he replied softly. Merlin wished, really wished, that the love he felt for him was more than just brotherly or friendly. He knew that Will loved him and would never hurt him; he'd always do everything that he said he would and he'd never lie. But Merlin didn't. He loved Arthur, who was an arse and a prat and a liar, but he loved him anyway.

"Anytime, Merls," Will replied sincerely then the line went dead.

Merlin lowered the phone, not feeling any better not than he had when he had dialled the number. He pulled his knees up to his chest and watched Buffy kiss Angel. A tear slid down his cheek – he wished, really wished, that he didn't love Arthur, but he did.

* * *

It took Gaius two minutes to figure out that Merlin was upstairs.

"How did you know I was up here?" Merlin asked his uncle as he came in and closed the door behind him carefully. Merlin was still sitting with his knees up in a guarded position.

"I heard the TV," Gaius replied. "And I saw your shoes and bag."

Merlin hummed non-committingly.

"Why are you home so early?" Gaius asked, moving over to sit on the edge of his nephew's bed.

"I didn't want to stay for last lesson." Merlin trained his gaze on the images on screen, refusing to meet his uncle's eyes.

Gaius sighed. "What's happened, Merlin?"

"Nothing," Merlin answered. He pulled at a thread on his duvet cover and kept his head down in an attempt to hide the tears that were filling his eyes.

Gaius didn't say anything; he just stared at Merlin until he looked up and met his gaze. He still didn't say anything as his eyebrow rose.

"Arthur and I had a fight," Merlin quickly explained, dropping his gaze back to the duvet as a tear escaped and ran down his face.

"About what?"

Merlin swallowed and forced himself to speak; the words stuck in his mouth. "I overheard him and his...friends talking about me. He was only with me for a bet."

"Merlin," Gaius sighed sympathetically. He patted the hand nearest him as Merlin kept talking.

"I thought- I don't know what I thought. I just thought that we were...you know, something. He's an arrogant pig and I hate him," Merlin finished harshly.

"That's not true."

Merlin nodded – whether he was trying to make himself believe it or Gaius he didn't know. "I do. He's horrible."

"Maybe you misunderstood-" Merlin cut Gaius off before he could continue.

"How could I have misunderstood, Gaius? There are only so many meanings for 'I don't actually like you and I was just using you for a quick shag and to win this bet'."

"Did Arthur actually say that?"

"Well, no. But-" It was Merlin's turn to be cut off by Gaius.

"I know Arthur broke your heart."

"That's really not helping Gaius," Merlin said, glowering at his uncle.

Gaius raised his eyebrow. Merlin shut up. "I know he broke your heart, but if you didn't hear it from Arthur then there is the possibility that it's not true. Has Arthur tried to explain it?"

A pause. "Yes," Merlin answered slowly.

"And did you listen to his explanation?" Gaius asked, sounding like he already knew the answer.

Another pause. "No."

Gaius shook his head. "You're a fool Merlin."

"Hey!"

The older man held up a hand to stop Merlin's protest. "Anyone who cannot see that Arthur is completely in love with you isa fool."

Merlin stared at him in shock. "He's not-"

"I've seen the way he looks at you, Merlin." Gaius gave him a look that claimed that he knew everything in the world.

"But I was just a bet," Merlin protested weakly, almost to himself.

Gaius patted his hand again before standing up. "Think about it." He crossed over to the door, leaving Merlin staring down at his duvet with a frown. "I'll call the school and tell them you were sick and so had to come home."

Merlin glanced up and smiled at his uncle. "Thank you Gaius."

His uncle nodded and shut the door behind him as he left. Merlin was left alone with his swirling disarray of thoughts and the sound of Buffy killing yet another vampire. He glanced at the screen – oh, no; it was an evil demon this time, not a vampire.

* * *

Merlin was still sitting on his bed, legs drawn up to his chest, watching Buffy and eating ice cream when Morgana burst into his room fifteen minutes later, Gwen trailing after her. She spared a disdainful look for the TV before snatching up the remote and flicking it off. The tall, pale girl then swung round and glared at Merlin as he pulled the spoon from his mouth with an obscene pop.

"Can I help you?" he asked innocently, placing the lid back on the ice cream container and the spoon on top.

"Would you like to explain to me," Morgana began, dropping down into the chair by Merlin's desk while appearing for all the world like some kind of regal and slightly terrifying princess; Merlin tried to suppress his shiver – he wasn't too sure if he succeeded, "why you thought it would be a good idea to have a fight with Arthur in the middle of the canteen and then skip last lesson and run home _in the rain_?"

Merlin squirmed under her sharp gaze. "We didn't really fight in the canteen; we saved it for outside."

Morgana sighed in a very put-upon manner and pulled at her near-illegally short skirt (it barely covered the top of her thigh).

Gwen intervened then. She came to sit beside Merlin – the same place Gaius had occupied earlier – and placed her hand on Merlin's, much the same as Gaius had. "What happened?"

"Your brother's a dick," Merlin shot at Morgana.

She raised an elegantly shaped eyebrow. "Tell me something I don't already know."

"You want me to tell you something you don't already know?" Merlin asked lightly. "I can do that. Arthur had a bet with his friends. Do you want to know what the bet was? Oh yes," he laughed cynically, "me."

Gwen gasped and Morgana's eyes widened.

"No. Merlin, that can't be true." Gwen moved closer to him and wrapped her arms round his skinny frame, pulling him into a hug while making sympathetic tutting noises.

"Arthur had a bet?" Morgana repeated dangerously low.

Merlin nodded dejectedly and for the fourth time that day he felt tears well in his eyes.

"And you were what he was betting on?" Morgana suddenly jumped up, startling both Merlin and Gwen who had been stroking the short dark hair with soothing pats. "I'm going to kill that fucking bastard," she declared loudly.

"Morgana," Gwen chided. "Merlin's uncle is downstairs; you don't want to disturb him."

"I don't give a shit who's downstairs and I don't give a shit who I'm going to disturb. That stupid, stupid boy!" Morgana paced in the small space between Merlin's door and his wall in front of the bed. Gwen and Merlin watched as her fury travelled across the room with her and she gestured while she ranted about her idiotic brother.

"I cannot believe I'm related to him. Well, I'm not related to him, but we grew up together and it's the principle of the matter," she told her friend's indignantly. "You are, most assuredly, the best thing that ever happened to Arthur Pendragon, Merlin. And it is so typical of my brother to go and screw everything up by being an arrogant prat. When I see him later I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!"

"Morgana," Gwen interrupted again. "Perhaps you should try to calm down a little."

"Calm down a little?" Morgana repeated in outrage. "If I was any calmer I'd be dead. Besides," she continued, resuming her pacing, "why should I be calm? My brother broke one of my best friend's hearts. The stupid idiot! I am going to kill him – and it is going to be very slow and very painful. You two are helping me hide the body, by the way," she added off-handedly.

Merlin nodded obediently, far too terrified to disagree with Morgana when she was in this mood. He would wait till later to convince her that although killing Arthur would be a good way to relieve tension, it probably wouldn't be a brilliant idea in the long run. He glanced over at Gwen to see her nodding too; he assumed she was thinking the same as her.

"It's really quite ridiculous though." Morgana paused and stared out the window.

It was clear that this was the point that Gwen and Merlin's input was required. "What's ridiculous?" Gwen asked cautiously so as not to send her off on another rant.

"Don't you know?" Morgana replied.

"Obviously not or else we wouldn't be asking, would we?" Merlin pointed out.

Morgana spared a second to scowl at him before she said, "It's ridiculous because of how much of an imbecile Arthur is. He should have called off the bet when he started falling in love with you. However, it is so predicable of him to screw things up when it involves someone important to him."

"What?" Merlin scoffed. So both Gaius and Morgana believed that Arthur actually did care about him – that was... interesting. "Arthur doesn't love me, now that's ridiculous."

Gwen pulled her hand away from where it had been playing idly with his hair. She frowned at him. "Of course Arthur loves you. Have you not noticed how he is with you?"

Merlin glanced between his friends. Gwen thought so as well. He felt a spectacular headache begin to blossom between his eyes. This was way too much to take in; he had been so sure that Arthur hadn't cared about him, but now everyone was saying that he did. Merlin pressed his hands to his face and groaned – he was confused and tired and really didn't want to deal with this right now.

Sensing his discomfort, Morgana came to sit beside him. She slipped her hand up his back and rubbed between his shoulder blades. "Merlin," she sighed as she shared a look with Gwen. "Let's not talk about this now, ok?"

"Yeah," Gwen joined in. "You were watching Buffy and eating ice cream when we got here. I haven't just sat and watched TV while eating ice cream in ages. How about I go grab another couple of spoons and we just sit around and do nothing?"

"You can cry about my dickhead of a brother and we'll comfort you as girl friends are supposed it."

"With ice cream and Buffy," Gwen chirped cheerily.

"And tissues," Morgana added, leaning over to grab the box of tissues from his desk.

"What we really need," Gwen began rising from her perch on the bed, "is chick flicks."

"But I'm not a chick," Merlin protested weakly.

"You're a gay man, it's the next best thing," Morgana retorted. "How about Moulin Rouge?"

"No," Merlin replied before Gwen could. "That's really sad; we are not watching that."

Gwen pondered for a moment. "Where's your DVD collection?"

Merlin waved his hand at a stack of DVDs in the corner.

She bent down to inspect the choices. "Benny and Joon?"

"Too funny," Morgana replied with a wrinkle of her nose that reminded Merlin painfully of Arthur.

"Love Actually?"

"Too happy," Merlin declared.

"The Other Boleyn Girl?"

"Too depressing," Morgana commented. "And since when has that been a chick flick?"

"Well, if I'm doing such an awful job then why don't you get off your arse and come and do it yourself?"

Morgana didn't move.

"The Break-Up?" Gwen suggested.

"Too close to home," Merlin replied quietly.

"Romeo and Juliet?"

"Too clichéd," Morgana dismissed.

"And I think you're forgetting that... Arthur and I did a scene from that in drama." Merlin found it hard to get his mouth round the other boy's name in such a casual context.

"Sorry," Gwen shot him an apologetic look, he waved her off gently. "The Day After Tomorrow?"

"Too apocalyptic," Morgana cracked open the tub of ice cream.

"That's my spoon," Merlin commented as Morgana dug some ice cream out and slipped it in her mouth.

"You don't have rabies, do you?" she asked as she scooped out another chunk.

"Merlin?" Gwen asked incredulously. "Do you have a Barbie and the Nutcracker DVD?"

"It's not mine," he quickly defended as Morgana dissolved into cackles beside him. "It was a present from my crazy Aunt Nimueh."

"Uh-huh." Gwen sounded unconvinced.

"It was!" he whined.

"I'm sure it was, Merlin." Morgana was still rolling around the bed, clutching her stomach and crying with laughter. Merlin had the overwhelming desire to roll her off the bed. Then he did. Because he was a bastard like that.

Morgana hit the floor with an 'oof' just as Gwen suggested, "10 Things I hate About You?"

Merlin grinned at his friend. "Perfect."

And that was how he ended up wasting his afternoon watching chick flick after chick flick while eating ice cream and squashed on his single bed with two of his best friends. Merlin tried desperately hard not to think of Arthur, but he found himself unconsciously casting himself and Arthur into the two leading roles (much to his chagrin, he was always the girl). By the time Gwen and Morgana had left he had made it through most of his DVD collection – including Barbie and the Nutcracker.

Merlin shut the door after the girls and tried to pretend that tomorrow he wouldn't have to fake another smile to stop them worrying about him. He also tried to pretend that he wouldn't see Arthur, but he knew that that was a near impossible feat.

* * *

The following day at school was... a complete and utter disaster. The last thing Merlin wanted to do was see or speak to Arthur Pendragon. The blonde, however, wanted the opposite. He spent most of his day stalking Merlin while begging him to listen. Merlin, for the most part, ignored both him and everything he said. It didn't help matters at all that Gwen and Morgana kept on shooting him sad glances every time he told Arthur to piss off.

("You should talk to him," Morgana had whispered in chemistry.

Merlin had snorted in reply. "No chance," he had told her determinedly.

She had merely looked at him in that sadly disappointed way and carried on with their experiment.)

Merlin managed to successfully evade Arthur and his traitor friends at lunchtime by helping Professor Anhora. His science teacher didn't ask any questions about Merlin's sudden interest in starting a chemistry club at lunchtime, thankfully.

After that Merlin got through his last lesson and made it home without another run-in with the boy he was going to extreme lengths to avoid. Just seeing and hearing Arthur broke his heart.

It was ridiculous how much Merlin had missed the prat; Arthur had played him for a bet and yet he still seemed to be irrevocably enamoured with him. Merlin had almost caved seven times when his _ex_-boyfriend had asked (begged) him to listen. Maybe Arthur did have an explanation. Maybe he did have a reason.

_Or maybe,_ a voice in Merlin's head said unhelpfully, _he just wanted to play you some more._

"But Arthur wouldn't do that," Merlin argued quietly with himself.

_You didn't think he'd do anything to hurt you before wither – and look what happened._

The dark haired boy scowled and banged the door to his uncle's shop open as he entered, shaking his head to rid himself of his flawed thoughts. He grabbed his work jacket and dumped his bag behind the counter.

Rebecca entered from the back of the shop, probably drawn by Merlin's banging and crashing. "Hello," she chirped brightly before taking in his stormy expression and slumped shoulders. "Oh, someone's unhappy. What happened to Romeo, Juliet?" she added.

"What?" Merlin snapped, ramming prescriptions into their appropriate boxes.

"Gaius told me about Arthur." She joined him by the till. "He didn't tell me how or why you broke up, just that you had and you'd probably be pissed off."

"Damn right I'm pissed off," Merlin muttered while wishing that everyone would stop bringing Arthur up because thinking of him actually hurt.

"What did he do?"

Merlin shrugged. "He was an arse; I broke it off."

"Ok," Rebecca replied. "So, what did he do?" she repeated.

The dark haired boy sighed. "He only went out with me for a bet."

"What a dick," she commented. "I've had that done to me."

"Really?" Merlin asked, reassured that he wasn't the first to be duped by a beautiful prat.

Rebecca nodded. "Granted it was when I was about ten, but I still know it hurts."

Merlin frowned. "Arthur's not ten – he should know better."

"He should, but boys will be boys." She shrugged and leant against the counted, folding her arms across her chest and managing to look wise and all-knowing even though she was only a year older than Merlin.

"I'm a boy too," Merlin pointed out.

Rebecca tutted and pinched his cheek. "Oh sweetie, you're not. You have a unicorn notebook."

"That doesn't mean I'm not a boy," he argued indignantly.

She made a disbelieving noise and stared significantly at Merlin's sparkly key ring attached to his bag.

"My mum got me that, it doesn't count. Besides, I can assure you I'm a boy." Merlin gestured at his flat chest. "No breasts."

Rebecca shrugged. "I have friends who are girls who have no breasts. And it's not those that make you a woman, it's what lies between your legs."

Merlin huffed. "Well, the last time I checked, I still had a dick. So I'm definitely a boy." It was as he said this that the door to the shop opened.

They both turned to see a delivery boy walk through the door, swamped and almost totally obscured from view by a huge bouquet of flowers. "I'm looking for Merlin Emrys," the boy said.

"Er..." Merlin blinked at the flowers.

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "He's here." She motioned at the shell-shocked boy beside her.

The delivery boy went and thrust the flowers at Merlin, who took them gingerly. He nearly dropped them, shocked at their weight and the sheer vastness of a few flowers.

"Oh, they're beautiful," Rebecca crooned, softly running her fingertips across the petals. "And they smell divine. These must have cost a fortune."

"I don't doubt that they did," Merlin replied, unimpressed.

Rebecca read his tone easily – her psychic wave length coming into play again. "Don't you like them?"

"They're very beautiful and I'm sure that they were very expensive, but when you're as rich as the Pendragons are I don't suppose a giant bouquet of flowers are a lot. Not to mention that they are horribly clichéd."

"How do you know that they're from Arthur? Is there a note?"

Merlin checked the flowers and found a not. He flipped it open to read:

_Merlin_

_I know I don't deserve it, but could you please bring yourself to forgive an idiotic prat. All I want is for you to listen._

_I love you always, Arthur_

"Aww," Rebecca cooed as he finished, "That is the cutest thing ever. You have to take him back." She had been reading the note over his shoulder.

"No, I don't," Merlin mumbled, flicking the small card in his fingers over to look at the swirling writing.

His colleague snorted. "You really do."

"Why should I?"

Rebecca snatched the card away and waved it in front of his face as if he hadn't just read the heart-breaking words written on the back. "This is why."

Merlin grabbed back the card while steadfastly ignoring her.

"He sent you _flowers_," she said emphatically.

"So?"

She snorted and ran her finger over one of the buds. "Purple hyacinths."

"What?"

She sent him a withering look and repeated, "Purple hyacinths, they're a flower, Merlin."

"Oh," he breathed then said slowly, "Yes purple hyacinths. And as pretty as they are-"

Rebecca cut across him like he hadn't just been speaking. "Do you know what they mean?"

He frowned, wrinkling his nose – Merlin had known that flowers had meanings, but he highly doubted that Arthur knew that. "What do they mean?" he asked, drawn in despite himself.

"They mean sorrow and," her eyes darted to meet his then quickly flicked away, "'I am sorry' and 'please forgive me.'"

"Oh," Merlin breathed again, his voice far quieter and softer this time.

"And this one," Rebecca continued, pointing out another flower, "is an amaryllis' it means pride." She ran her fingers across a leaf. "Fern means magic or fascination. A geranium means stupidity. And of course," her hand hovered over one of the deep red roses settled in amongst the other flowers, "red roses. I think we all know what this one means, but just in case it escaped your notice, it means love."

Merlin shuffled awkwardly. "It's a bit of a random mixture of flowers."

For a moment, it seemed like his colleague was going to hit him. "He was getting a message across using flowers."

"Couldn't he have just written it on the note?"

"I'm assuming he was trying to be sweet, although I see that the notion is completely lost on you."

Merlin scowled. "Well, I'm assuming that he used his dad's shit-load of money to buy me a bunch of flowers and he probably asked the people in the ship to pick flowers that meant sorry and some other stupid meanings that he probably doesn't even know then sent them here to achieve," Merlin paused and gesticulated dramatically. He gave up trying to encompass his feelings with words and instead made a frustrated noise. "I don't even know what he was trying to achieve."

"Oh Merlin," Rebecca patted his hand. "You're not over him at all, are you? You need to get back with him."

"No," his voice broke as he shook his head. "I don't need him or his father's money or his stupid fucking flowers." Merlin grabbed a pen and flicked Arthur's note over to scribble a message on the back. Rebecca peered over his shoulder to read again.

_Arthur_

_Your note was received and not appreciated nor accepted; I suggest that you leave me alone. Neither your nor your father's wealth will get me back or impress me. So you can take your flowers and shove them up your arse. _

_Regards, Merlin_

With that, Merlin stabbed the note back into the flowers and shoved them at the delivery boy, who – oddly – was still standing in the shop.

"Take these back to Arthur Pendragon," he instructed.

The delivery boy glowered at the extra work. Nevertheless, he took back the flowers and left with a shrug.

"That was a bit harsh, wasn't it?" Rebecca said softly into the silence that deafened them following the boy's exit.

Merlin briskly picked up some prescriptions. "The message conveyed my exact feelings towards Arthur and our non-existent relationship," he told her, marching away and knowing that every word he had just spoken and written was a total and complete lie.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Days to write, minutes to comment – please do!


	10. Chapter 10

Title:

COD (Centre of Detention) Chapter 10

**Author:** topperchar

**Characters:** Merlin/Arthur, very small amounts of Gwen/Lancelot and Morgana/Leon, and various OCs and other canon characters.

**Rating:** NC-17

**Word Count: **7,071

**Summary: **In Merlin's opinion, Arthur Pendragon is a complete prat. Isn't it odd how quickly and wholly a person's opinion can change? A tale of how a few detentions, a couple of arguments and a kiss can change your life. High school AU

**Warnings: **Naughty language, tiny bit of blaspheming. The rating is for the language not anything else.

**A/N:** This has taken forever to write! I am so sorry for making you wait so long – please forgive me! I wrote the first part and gave it to my sister to beta and she threw it back at me with an 'it's not up to your usual standard, fix it'. Hopefully it's ok now *fingers crossed* Anyway, this chapter is really really long. Not much more to say really, I hope you enjoy. The next chapter will probably be the last chapter if all goes to plan. Thank you to everyone who commented on the previous installment! I hope you enjoy this part!

**Disclaimer:** All characters are the property of the BBC. Everything else is the product of my odd mind. Enjoy!

* * *

Merlin woke ridiculously early the next day so he could escape the house and get on the bus before Arthur had the chance to arrive in his sleek car – looking for all the world like a kicked puppy – and demand to know why Merlin had not accepted his flowers, but sent them back with a snotty note and a disgruntled delivery boy. Gaius, thankfully, didn't ask any questions as Merlin flew out of the door ten minutes before his normal time.

His uncle merely muttered, "Have a good day."

"You too," Merlin grunted in response, already out of the house before the man could say anything else.

When he got to school, Gwen was waiting for him at the bottom of the steps. Her arms were folded and she had an expression on her face that was hovering between overjoyed and pained.

"Are you all right?" was the opening that Merlin used to greet his friend.

Gwen frowned, bit her lip, opened her mouth then shut it again in quick succession before deciding that she was happy and smiled. "Lance asked me out," she said, by way of explanation for her rather odd behavior.

"Really? That's brilliant," Merlin replied trying to match his smile to Gwen's ecstatic one and failing badly. He was happy for her, but couldn't bring himself to fake a smile when her love life was going so well and his was currently drowning in a sea of bad feelings and misconceptions…Had he mentioned the drowning?

However, despite Merlin's overwhelming desire to shut himself in a dark room and wallow in self pity (and maybe eat some more ice cream) or perhaps in spite of it, he asked Gwen where she was going, what she was doing, how he had asked her and all the things a diligent friend should ask when their friend was asked on a date by the boy she had been lusting after for nearly three weeks.

As it turned out, Gwen didn't need much prodding from Merlin to spill everything.

She talked till Morgana arrived and then talked some more and didn't stop talking until the bell went and Morgana gently pointed out that they should get to lesson and Gwen could tell them the rest at break. And so the three of them marched off to drama together.

Half the class was already there when they pushed through the doors, battling with the other half to get into the room - they were crowding round the entrance as they always did and making it practically impossible to enter without walking into someone. However, Morgana and Gwen always managed not to knock into people, maybe it was just Merlin. So, typically, he knocked against someone's shoulder.

"Oh sorry," he said automatically, turning to the person he had brushed against only to notice that it was the one person he had been attempting to avoid. _Damn,_ Merlin thought, _I forgot Arthur was in my drama class_.

Arthur stared back at him, blue gaze just as shocked as Merlin's. The dark haired boy felt a rush of want and affection closely followed by pain and a bitterly heart-wrenching embarrassment. But those feelings weren't what shocked him; he had been expecting all of that. What he hadn't been expecting was for Arthur's face to mirror the pain, affection, embarrassment and want that he felt thrumming through him.

"Um…" Merlin's voice shook as he stared at Arthur; their eyes locked and time seemed to still around them. Merlin suddenly didn't care that he had been a bet. The spot where his shoulder had brushed Arthur's was tingling – burning - and all he wanted to do was slide his hands into that gorgeously soft hair and pull this boy close and never let him go.

Morgana's voice startled him from his thoughts. Merlin shook his head and turned towards the source of his name. The girls had dropped their bags at the edge of the hall already. He walked towards them, leaving a puzzled Arthur behind him.

Morgana pressed her hand to Merlin's arm as he stopped beside her to discard his bag as well. She glanced between her brother and her friend with a confused frown. Merlin refused to answer her unspoken question and, instead, turned to Miss Horne who was calling for the class to listen.

The rest of the lesson was unbearably tense. Leon and Lance came to stand by their respective girlfriends and – of course – Arthur followed. They were divided into groups of three, which had Merlin thanking every deity out there as he went with Gwen and Morgana and managed to escape Arthur's intense, searching glances.

Miss Horne, on the other hand, didn't think this was such a great idea.

"Why aren't you together?" she had demanded when she saw that Arthur and Merlin were working separately. Merlin had left Arthur to explain and hadn't stopped to listen to his response.

Then it had all gone _really_ downhill from there.

Quite how Merlin had managed to resist punching Miss Horne in the face when she had told Merlin that she 'felt his pain and understood that teenage break-ups could be hard' but she 'believed that he and Arthur were made for each other' he did not know. He tried very hard to politely refuse to speak to her, but she didn't seem to get the message. So he decided to fake-sprain his ankle in order to get away from the crazy woman and sat out for the rest of the lesson. And his eyes most certainly did _not_ stray to Arthur every five seconds no matter what Gwen said.

His replacement was an acne-riddled girl who looked like a pig and smelt like smoky bacon crisps – her name was Katrina. Gwen and Morgana did not look amused and he had a feeling he was going to get a thorough telling off in Enrichment for his faux injury, although it was definitely worth it to see Katrina fall over and grab onto the nearest thing – which just so happened to be Morgana's skirt – in an attempt to stay upright and drag his friend down with her.

He laughed all the way to Chemistry, Morgana hobbling along beside him with her (real) sprained ankle.

* * *

"Merlin," Morgana started nervously, watching Merlin as he stuck out his tongue and poured some weird, blue, gooey stuff into a test tube.

"Hmm," he hummed in reply.

She flicked the edge of the desk nervously and bit her lip; the action caught Merlin's attention and he abruptly dropped the substance he was pouring. Morgana was nervous? Morgana was never nervous. Why was Morgana nervous?

"Merlin!" she exclaimed, grabbing for the pot that was falling to its doom from where he had carelessly dropped it.

The dark haired boy grabbed the liquid-sloshing pot before it could make contact with the floor in a rather spectacular stunt, but, by that point, all of the gooey substance had excavated the pot and was forming a disgusting sludgy pile of mess on the floor at his feet. "Um…"

Morgana kicked the worst of it under their desk so no one would see then took the empty pot from her partner's hands and stealthily switched it with the table next to theirs while the occupants were looking the other way.

"Nicely done," Merlin complimented with a smile when she had turned back to him.

She flicked her hair behind her shoulder and winked. "Thanks."

"What were you going to say before?" he asked, proceeding with their experiment.

The nervousness came back then. "Well…"

This time, Merlin placed the pot calmly on the table and turned to his friend. "What is it?"

"It's about Arthur."

"How did I know that was coming?" He turned back to their experiment with a scowl. _Stupid Arthur and his stupid stupidness._

"In drama, you two seemed to have a, what's the best word for it?" She paused and frowned, tapping her lip. Merlin didn't even know how to describe what they had in drama so how Morgana was going to do it he didn't know. "A… moment? Yeah, a moment. You two seemed to have a moment in drama-"

"I would hardly call it a moment," he forced out. But then, if it wasn't a moment, then what had it been? There had definitely been something. Merlin slammed the pot down, sloshing blue liquid _again_, and shoved the test tube over the Bunsen burner. He didn't even know if he was supposed to heat the test tube yet, but he had the sudden urge to watch something _burn_.

Morgana pursed her lips and gently took the test tube from Merlin – or, at least, she tried to gently take it from him, but Merlin was refusing to let go so she was forced to dig her fingernails into his arm to get him to let go of the damn thing before it exploded.

"Ow," the dark haired boy complained, rubbing his arm. "What was that for?"

"We need to stop setting the lab on fire or they're not going to let us continue to study Chemistry next year." She placed the test tube back in the rack then turned to Merlin and pulled his hands into hers. "There's still something there. Between you and Arthur. You still love each other."

Her words weren't questions. They were statements. Yet Merlin answered them anyway. "There's nothing there," he contradicted. "I never loved him in the first place."

"Oh don't be ridiculous Merlin. Arthur may be a prat, but anyone who spends five minutes with him when he's being charming can't help but fall for him."

"Well that's obviously wrong. I managed it." His hands itched and he had to fight down the urge to rip them away from Morgana's iron grasp.

"You're one of my best friends, Merlin," Morgana told him softly. "And I love you dearly. But Arthur's my brother. And I love him too. You're both unhappy-"

"I'm not-" Merlin attempted to argue. His words were drowned by Morgana's sharp eyes.

"You still love him; he still loves you. He broke your heart by making a stupid bet, but you're not entirely without fault in this either."

"What-" The words died at her glare.

"I was angry at him too, but I listened to what he had to say. Perhaps you should too; I think you'd like what you hear." She squeezed his hands and pulled him into a hug. "You sent back his flowers," she whispered.

Merlin blamed the tremor of guilt that shot through his gut on the fact that he skipped breakfast that morning. "They were stupid."

"He put a lot of time into those," she replied and it wasn't till Morgana had pulled back and started wiping at the tears trailing down his cheek that Merlin realized he was crying.

"He sent me flowers." A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled out of Merlin's throat. "It takes a bit more than that to make things right."

"Arthur didn't want you to take him back just because he sent flowers. The note asked you to listen to him, not to forgive him."

"Why do you always have to be right?" Merlin asked as he rested back into Morgana's embrace.

"Because I'm amazing," she replied like the answer was obvious. "And I'm a woman."

He laughed again. "I don't think I'm ready to hear what he has to say yet."

Morgana ran a hand through his hair. "I'm pretty sure he's willing to wait till you are. Just don't push him away. He finds it hard to trust people and he trusts you. Don't lose it or you'll never get it back."

"He needs to get my trust back too," Merlin mumbled petulantly.

"I know."

Silence fell between them and Morgana released him. They continued with their experiment and by the time that the bell rang, the tell-tale red marks had faded from under Merlin's eyes. Morgana quickly started packing both their bags as the ringing echoed through the classroom.

"What's the rush?" he asked.

"I get to see Leon," Morgana replied chirpily.

Merlin's heart sank slightly and his stomach did somersaults at the thought of seeing Arthur again. If Leon was there then the blonde would be too. He wasn't sure if he was happy, sad or terrified to see Arthur again – it was probably all three.

"Be nice," Morgana demanded, reading Merlin's mind through his overly expressive face.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "I can be nice."

"I mean it, Merlin."

He nodded and followed her out of the classroom, offering his arm for support as she winced and nearly fell from putting too much weight on her injured foot. His heart beat erratically in his chest and his blood rushed in his ears; it was almost like he could actually feel his stomach knotting. Merlin pulled in a shaky breath as Morgana pulled his hand into hers. He glanced at her gratefully; what would he do without her?

* * *

Merlin deposited Morgana on a chair in the canteen; she was complaining that she may have to chop her ankle off because if she didn't she was going to _die_. Merlin rolled his eyes and ignored her for the most part. Lance and Gwen were there, but Leon and Arthur hadn't arrived yet. Merlin fiddled anxiously with the zip on his jacket. Would Arthur still want to talk to him? What would he say if he did? Should he be the one to initiate the conversation or should he wait till Arthur spoke to him? Was he expected to apologize for sending the flowers back? Maybe he should ask Arthur to send some more so that he could accept them and put them in a vase on the dining room table or something.

"It's not the Spanish Inquisition, Merlin," Morgana interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh?" His dazed eyes were still fixed on the entrance – he wanted to be prepared for when Arthur came in.

"Arthur's not going to interrogate you. He's your friend, your boyfriend."

"Not anymore," he mumbled.

"Hello one and all," Leon exclaimed as he came up behind them.

"Leon!" Morgana exclaimed as Merlin cried out in shock and nearly fell backwards. Arthur's arm round his waist was the only thing that stopped him from falling. As soon as Merlin was safely back on his feet, Arthur pulled his arm away. Merlin blushed crimson and shuffled.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

Arthur inclined his head but didn't say anything.

"What was that about, Merlin?" Lance asked curiously; the first words he had spoken since Merlin and Morgana had arrived. He and Gwen had been staring at each other bessotedly – he wondered whether they had some kind of psychic link going on or something where they could read each others thoughts.

"You didn't come through the entrance," Merlin explained.

"We had History; it's faster to come through the side door," Leon replied before immersing himself in Morgana – literally.

Merlin slithered into a chair as his friend's went back to their mutual love-fest. Arthur took the seat beside him. "So…" he started awkwardly, "how was History?"

Arthur's lips quirked up slightly in a parody of his usual smirks. "Historical. How was Chemistry?"

The dark haired boy frowned. "How did you know I had Chemistry?"

"I, um…" Arthur cast around for an explanation.

"Oh, really?" Merlin replied sarcastically after a good minute had passed without Arthur saying anything.

He smiled apologetically. "I overheard you and Morgana talking and I may have watched you walk to your lesson after Drama."

"Oh." That was actually kind of… sweet. In a stalker-ish kind of way.

The conversation lulled dangerously; Merlin frantically tried to think of something to say. Maybe he could thank Arthur for the flowers. _No,_ the unhelpful voice in his head protested. _That's really stupid! He would think you were mocking him seen as you sent them back._ Or he could ask Arthur to explain about the bet, but was the middle of the canteen with Arthur's sister and one of his best friends snogging on one side and Merlin's best friend and Arthur's other best friend making googly eyes at each other on the other side really the best place for such a conversation? _No_, came the unhelpful voice again.

Merlin was just about to mentally-maim the ridiculous voice in his head, which he had a feeling was his conscience, when Arthur said, "I got you something."

"Huh?" Merlin replied, pulled from his inner-war by Arthur bending down to rustle in his bag.

"I know you told me that money couldn't win you back, but I saw it and… sort of thought of… you, you know?" The blonde's hand came back from the depths of his school bag clutching a plastic bag. He dropped it down in front of Merlin and pulled his hand back swiftly for fear that Merlin would bite it off. "I hope you like it."

He sounded so hopeful that Merlin thought he was going to burst into tears and through his arms round Arthur's neck while proclaiming his undying, ever-lasting love for Arthur and kiss him till neither of them could breathe. Thankfully, he didn't do that, the canteen wasn't the best place for proclamations of devotion either.

Instead, Merlin lifted his hands cautiously and peered inside the bag. He couldn't see anything. He reached inside the bag to pull whatever it was out. His fingers touched something that felt oddly like fur. Arthur had got him something soft; he couldn't tell from the shape what it was, but it felt suspiciously like a cuddly toy. He bit his lip and frowned as he tried to figure out what it was.

"You know, Merlin, it would be a lot easier to find out what it was if you took it out of the bag," Arthur said with a proper smirk now.

Merlin stuck his tongue out at him childishly and felt his heart soar when Arthur's eyes lit up and he smiled. Who was he kidding? Morgana was right; he was hopelessly in love…Not that he was ready to admit that aloud.

He closed his hand round the toy – was that a tail? – and pulled it out of the bag. Arthur had bought him…

A dragon.

It was about the same size as Merlin's head and it had soft red fur with a gold belly. Its eyes were as golden as its front and it had a long snout with tiny felt fangs and felt claws on its paws. Merlin stared at it; for a dragon it was actually kind of cute.

"Is it all right?" Arthur asked nervously. "Do you like it?"

"It's…um," Merlin's voice cracked and he swallowed down the feeling rising in his throat. He was not going to cry because Arthur gave him a stuffed toy dragon. No, he most certainly was not.

"It didn't cost a lot, but I thought it looked cool. And it's sort of like us, isn't it?"

Merlin looked at Arthur questioningly.

"It's a dragon," Arthur replied like that explained it all.

"I can see that." Merlin rubbed a wing between his thumb and finger.

Arthur huffed a silent laugh. "I'm Arthur and you're Merlin." Merlin raised his eyebrows, but the blonde didn't let him comment. "Like the legends. King Arthur and his great sorcerer Merlin. It was at the time of all the magic and dragons and…stuff." Arthur sighed and gave up trying to encompass his thought process with words – words weren't his thing, he was a man of action. "It seemed like a good idea at the time, ok? If you don't want it I can take it back."

"No," Merlin exclaimed, holding the dragon out of Arthur's reach as he tried to take it back. "You've given him to me now. He's mine and you can't take him back."

Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Him?"

Merlin blushed and stroked a finger down the dragon's nose. "Well, he's not a girl, is he? He looks like a boy."

"Do you like him?" Arthur asked again.

Merlin nodded and held the dragon just that bit closer.

"Look, Merlin-" Whatever Arthur had been about to say was cut off by the bell ringing. He glared at the object making the noise as if it had delivered him a personal insult. "Can I talk to you later?"

Merlin lifted his bag onto his shoulder and held the dragon with his other. He would have to think of a name. "Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Can I have some time? To think and everything." Merlin shuffled and stared up at Arthur.

He nodded. "As much as you need."

"Thank you." Merlin lifted the dragon to press its snout to Arthur's cheek in a mock-kiss. "I'll see you later."

Arthur nodded again, fazed by his 'kiss' from the dragon and watched as Merlin was dragged away by Gwen and Morgana; the dragon peering over Merlin's shoulder with its golden eyes seemingly fixed on Arthur all the way.

* * *

Morgana clicked her fingers in front of Merlin's face and he jumped back to reality from where he had been gazing out of the window.

"Earth to Merlin. Come in Merlin," Gwen mocked as a faint blush crawled up his neck.

"Sorry," he murmured. "What are we doing?"

Morgana scowled, flicking their worksheet towards Merlin. "_We,_" she gestured at herself and Gwen, "are doing the work while _you,_" she fixed him with a piercing stare, "are going gaga over my brother."

The blush on Merlin's cheeks flared to life. "I wasn't thinking about him," he defended poorly as he glanced at the worksheet. _Understanding the world of banking_ was emblazoned across the top. He wrinkled his nose in distaste and slid the sheet across the table back towards Morgana; he'd much rather be staring out the window.

"Oh really?" Morgana sounded incredulous. "Then why were you hugging your new toy?"

Merlin quickly released the hold on his stuffed dragon. He had most certainly _not_ been stroking its velvet-soft wings. Nope. And nor had his new pet been sitting on his lap. The dragon was moved onto the table and Merlin turned him so that he was facing the girls. It would be unfair to prevent him from seeing the conversation really.

"He's actually quite cute," Gwen commented patting the dragon on the head. His little golden eyes observed her and it looked like he was smiling at her. "We should give him a name."

Morgana rubbed her temples irritably. "Will you stop cooing over the goddamn dragon?" she said tightly. "There are more important things to be doing here."

Merlin pulled the dragon closer to him defensively and shielded his pointy ears. "Like what? You can't tell me you honestly want to 'explore the mystical universe of credit cards' or something equally ridiculous as that."

"No of course I don't." She snatched the dragon away from Merlin (who whimpered as he was pulled away, but just managed to remain in his seat and not pounce at Morgana with an embarrassing war cry to rescue the dragon) and she waved him around by his dark red tail. "I want to discuss the person who gave you this."

"Well I don't!" Merlin made a grab for the dragon, but Morgana held him out of the dark haired boy's reach. "Morgana," he whined. "Give him back!"

"You're being cruel Morgana. Give Merlin back his dragon," Gwen chastised, her voice emanating motherly-disapproval.

With a disgusted noise and a roll of her eyes, Morgana returned the dragon to its rightful owner. Merlin hugged him and patted his snout, whispering things that sounded suspiciously like 'what did the nasty lady do to you?' and 'you're safe now, don't worry'. Morgana rolled her eyes again.

"So, what do you want to name him?" Gwen asked lightly as if an epic fight for the ownership of the dragon hadn't just occurred. She pretended to read a statement about online banking as the teacher passed by their table. The teacher in question frowned at Merlin, who was still stroking the dragon's head, and moved on quickly without a word.

"We should call it Damien." Morgana was still glaring at the dragon like it had paid her a personal insult.

"Why Damien?" Gwen asked, confusion written across her features.

"Because it's like the devil."

"He is not like the devil!" Merlin defended avidly. "And don't call him it; honestly, you're as bad as Arthur." He waved the little dragon in front of Morgana as if that action alone would give the stuffed toy human qualities.

"It's a toy," Morgana pointed out drily.

"He's real." Merlin placed the dragon back on the table and smiled down at it goofily.

Even Gwen looked a little like she feared for Merlin's sanity. "I think we should call him G.S.D."

Merlin's brow wrinkled in confusion as Morgana asked, "What?"

"G.S.D," Gwen repeated cheerily. "It stands for Great Slash Dragon."

Morgana burst into laughter before the words had even left Gwen's mouth; obviously something had clicked and she had got the joke. Merlin continued to stare in puzzlement, but neither girl seemed willing to explain as Gwen joined Morgana in the insane giggle-fit. They were attracting the attention of the students round them; Merlin smiled awkwardly as his peers stared at him.

The teacher came over then. "Could you keep it down please?" she requested politely, her quiet voice contrasting widely with Gwen and Morgana's squeals of laughter. "I fear that your outburst may disturb the other students."

"I'm sorry Mrs. Street. I don't know what's got into them," Merlin told her apologetically. He then promised that they would be quieter and the teacher nodded, smiled and glided back over to the other side of the room while telling them all that they had fifteen minutes left to finish whatever task it was they were supposed to be doing.

Gwen and Morgana calmed themselves down while Merlin just stared at them, petting the dragon sitting on his lap and looking scarily like Doctor Evil. "Finished?" he asked testily as they finally stopped laughing and wiped away the tears staining their cheeks.

"Yes, yes, we're finished," Gwen panted, straightening her blouse and pushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Great Slash Dragon – that is so funny," Morgana chuckled. She pulled a compact out of her bag and checked her make-up. "You have _got_ to call him that."

Merlin scowled. "I refuse to call my dragon G.S.D."

"Why?" Gwen's eyes were wide and innocent like she genuinely couldn't understand why Merlin didn't want to call his beautiful dragon G.S.D.

"Because it sounds like some kind of sanitary towel brand that's why!" Merlin pulled his dragon closer to him, trying to shelter him from the witches who were masquerading as his two best friends. "Besides, he already has a name."

"You already named him?" Gwen's lower lip jutted out and tears began to form in her eyes.

"You named it without consulting us?" Whereas Gwen had sounded hurt, Morgana sounded shocked.

"Yes," Merlin snapped. "Believe it or not, I can actually function without you two there to hold my hand." He lifted the dragon; his hands wrapped round its torso just below the wings and declared, "His name is Sparky!"

"Sparky?" Morgana was dubious.

"Sparky!" Gwen squeaked and jumped up and down in her chair. "That's so cute! I mean, of course, G.S.D. is better, but Sparky – that's adorable. When are you going to tell Arthur what you christened your child? Does he already know? Did you two decide together? Now _that_ would be adorable. Speaking of Arthur, are you two back together? I saw you give him a little through-the-dragon-kiss. Does that mean you're in love again? Not that I ever think the two of you fell out of love because, well, really. But you were actually speaking to each other so are you together now?"

"Gwen," Morgana muttered darkly.

"Yes?" The smaller girl turned to look at her friend, excitement still shining in her eyes with her cheerful smile.

"Shut up."

Gwen's smile fell from her lips as she turned to look at Merlin, who was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "Oh." Understanding suddenly dawned on her face and she frowned remorsefully. "I'm sorry, Merlin. I didn't mean-"

Merlin shook his head and smiled at her. "It's ok, I know you didn't."

She smiled apologetically again and reached out a hand to squeeze Merlin's. "You should talk to him," she advised gently.

"About what?" Merlin snapped. "The weather? Everyone keeps telling me that I _need_ to speak to him; I don't even see what there is to talk about."

Gwen's eyes narrowed – she lost her kind gentleness in favour of stubborn determination; sometimes she was more frightening than Morgana. "I didn't say that you _needed_ to speak to him, I said that you should."

"She's right Merlin," Morgana added from beside Gwen. She was nodding her head, her dark wavy hair bouncing with the movement, like she knew everything there was to know about the universe. "You were talking to him earlier – what did you talk about then?"

Merlin shrugged. If he was being honest, not even he really knew what they had talked about earlier. "This and that; nothing particularly important." He chewed at his bottom lip as he thought back to what they had talked about, twisting his hands as his gut twisted with the thought of his ex. "He admitted to stalking me, which was cute in a weird way."

Morgana snorted and Gwen raised her eyebrows. They shared a look that Merlin failed to decipher – obviously, that particular piece of information meant something to their freakishly depraved minds.

"He gave me Sparky." Merlin held up the dragon and the light glinted off the golden thread lining his wings. He stared down at the toy; it was odd how completely he had fallen in love with it in so little time. _Like Arthur, _the unhelpful voice in his head supplied.

"Which you kept," Gwen pointed out. Her face was carefully blank, almost like she was trying to hide something.

"Yes," Merlin answered slowly. So he kept the dragon, what was the big deal? It was cute and it was a stuffed dragon – who could possibly say no to a stuffed dragon?

"But you sent back the flowers he sent you?" Why was Morgana asking such a stupid question? She already knew the answer. Her face was as impassive as Gwen's. Merlin frowned; they were up to something and they were always untrustworthy when they were up to something.

He pulled up his guard and dutifully answered her question. "Yes." They shared another look. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You _kept _the dragon," Gwen whispered like it was the most important thing in the world.

"So?" Merlin frowned and tightened his hold on Sparky. It was odd how little trust he had in the two girls next to him considering that they were his best friends.

Morgana flipped her hair behind her shoulder and put on her best I-know-everything-disagree-with-me-at-your-own-peril look and said, "It's a clear sign that you're still in love with Arthur."

Merlin scoffed and ignored the way his heart jumped at the truth in Morgana's statement. "I am not."

"You are," Morgana sing-songed in reply. Gwen nodded gravely and made a heart shape with her hands while mouthing 'love'.

He scowled at them. "Have I ever told you what evil bitches you two are?"

Gwen smiled triumphantly. "Oh, you've noticed have you?"

"We were wondering how long it would take you." Morgana's smile was sharp and terrifying and made Merlin feel like he was about to be eaten. He shrunk back instinctively.

"I don't love him," Merlin told them firmly, deciding to return to the problem at hand rather than comment on Morgana's startling accuracy to impersonate a feral wolf.

"Then why did you keep G.S.D.?" Gwen waved her pen at him accusingly, nearly taking out Morgana's eye as she did so.

"I kept Sparky," Merlin put particular emphasis on the dragon's real name, "because if I had given him back to Arthur then he would have had to go back and live at the Pendragon estate where I'm sure nobody would have fed him and he would have been dreadfully mistreated."

"Merlin, it's a _toy_." Morgana's voice was slow, like she was speaking to a dense child who was convinced that there were fairies living at the bottom of the garden (of course, Merlin also believed that there was a family of fairies living at the bottom of the garden, but there's no way he was going to tell Morgana that).

"He's not a toy to me." She got a faceful of Sparky fur as the dragon was shoved at her. "I'll look after him if he comes to live with me." Merlin smiled down at the toy and patted its head fondly.

Gwen raised her eyebrows disbelievingly. "You really are a total girl, aren't you?"

Merlin glowered at her.

Morgana tilted her head to the left, picking up on something Merlin had said before. "I live at the Pendragon estate too, Merlin."

He nodded solemnly, the fear he was feeling for Sparky's near-tragic fate showing in his eyes. "Exactly," he whispered.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. So she probably wouldn't feed the dragon because it was a toy, but she wouldn't let it be mistreated. "He'd be perfectly well looked after. The stupid toy would probably just sit in a box in the attic somewhere."

The colour drained from Merlin's face. "You can't put him in the attic," he gasped.

"Guys, guys, come on," Gwen interrupted, holding up her hands passively. "We're getting off the point here."

Merlin rolled his eyes. "What _is _the point?"

Morgana fixed him with an intense gaze and asked, "Do you love Arthur?"

"Um…" To say that he was taken aback by the abrupt subject change was a slight understatement. "Sorry?"

"Do you love him?" It was Gwen who was demanding the answer this time.

"What-" Merlin desperately tried to deflect their question; he had only just tackled admitting such a thing to himself and now he was supposed to acknowledge it aloud – saying something aloud made it so much more terrifying, it made it so much more real. The feelings that he had carefully kept locked away were beginning to break free; his stomach churned uneasily as his pulse jumped.

Morgana interrupted before he had a chance to formulate a good comeback. "Just answer the question, Merlin."

He gaped for a second, probably looking like a fish while he did, before managing to force the answer past the tightness in his throat. "Yes." His voice was quiet, almost too quiet for the girls to hear his answer. However, he could tell from the widening of Gwen's eyes and the smug nod from Morgana that they had heard.

"I thought so," Morgana declared pointlessly as Gwen, sympathy coating her voice, said, "Oh Merlin."

The dark haired boy refused to look at them, staring determinedly out the window, his fingers running against the soft seam at Sparky's back. "I hardly see how that particular piece of information helped with anything." He sounded like he hadn't drunk anything in days, the words rasping against his throat and falling flat in the air. It was amazing how one simple little word, such as yes, could break someone's heart.

"You're supposed to be smart, Merlin," Morgana cooed at him, sliding her chair closer and bringing a hand up to run through the short strands of hair at the back of Merlin's head. "Can't you see?"

"See what?" he snapped, resisting the urge to slap her hand away and stop the soothing motions that made him feel like he was going to fall apart.

"Arthur loves you too." Gwen had slipped into the chair on the other side of him and rested her hand lightly on his shoulder.

Merlin spared a brief thought to wonder why his friends felt like they needed to pet him all of a sudden and how had he managed to become such a _girl_ in such a short space of time before his brain caught up with what Gwen had just said. "He what?"

Morgana laughed at the confused wrinkle of Merlin's nose. "My brother is an idiot, the most stupid man I have ever met and I know him very well, Merlin. Arthur may not look like he feels emotions at all, but he does. He just knows how to hide them. I've already told you, Arthur cares about you – a lot. And if I'm right – which I am, all the time I might add – then he loves you too."

Merlin shook his head; if Arthur loved him so much then why had he not called off the bet? _But if he didn't love you then why would he go to so much trouble to get you back?_ Merlin scowled – the voice in his head was being even more unhelpful than it had been before."Oh," Merlin moaned, pressing his hands to his head. "Why is this all so confusing? It's giving me a headache."

Gwen laughed. "You really should talk to him. I've never seen Arthur like this with anyone before."

"Listen to us," Morgana demanded.

"We know what we're talking about."

"I hate you both so much," Merlin groaned, dropping his head onto the desk.

"We love you too, darling," Gwen cooed, messing up Merlin's hair.

His other friend then grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back up. "We also have something to ask you," she told him cheerfully, her eyes flicking to Gwen and back again so fast that Merlin almost missed the movement.

"We have been given a mission." Gwen started gesticulating with her pen again and Merlin had the sudden urge to grab it out of her hand and throw it out of the window.

"Why do you need to involve me in this mission?" All he wanted to do right now was curl up and die – with ice cream of course – because when you have a broken heart ice cream just _has _to be there.

Gwen shook her head. "You are the mission."

Merlin frowned, his attention caught. All thoughts of dying and ice cream evacuated his brain. "What does that mean?"

"You're coming to the summer soiree with us," Morgana told him. She yanked a small piece of yellow card out of her bag and shoved it in his hand.

He glanced down at the swirling silver letters. _Camelot Academy Summer Soiree, Admits One Student, 6:00pm-8:30pm. _Merlin squinted at the small print in the corner: _refreshments available_. "Why do I need this?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Because you're coming with us. Everyone's going to be there: me, Morgana, Lance, Leon-"

Merlin thrust the card back at Morgana. "I'm not going," he told her stubbornly.

She frowned. "Why?"

He didn't reply.

He didn't need to; apparently Morgana had been speaking to Gaius and Rebecca and had picked up their creepy mind-reading skills. "Arthur's not going to be there."

Merlin blinked and frowned. "Why not?"

Gwen shuffled awkwardly as Morgana said smoothly, "He knew that we were going to ask you to go and he thought you wouldn't want to go if he was going so he offered not to go."

"Oh," Merlin breathed retaking the ticket that Morgana was holding out for him. A frisson of guilt ran through his gut; Arthur would probably enjoy the concert a lot more than Merlin would and yet he had given up his opportunity to go so that Merlin could. His insides melted slightly. _Why did he have to be a prat ninety percent of the time and then just as you were thinking of giving up on him he had to go and do something that makes up for every single prattish thing he has done?_ "I'm so screwed."

The girls on either side of him frowned, but didn't say anything. "So, will you come?" Gwen asked excitedly. "It will be mine and Lance's first proper date."

Merlin was shaken from his thoughts about Arthur by that. "Lance is taking you to the summer soiree for your first date?" His incredulity must have shown through his voice and his face as some of the slighter girl's excitement drained from her.

"What's wrong with that?" She pouted at him and her brown eyes swirled with emotion. Gwen and Lance were going to make one hell of a couple.

He rolled his eyes. "Nothing's wrong with it. It's just an odd first date that's all," he assured her, feeling the guilt gnawing at his stomach fade away as the smile returned to her.

Mrs. Street called for the class to be quiet then and the three of them stopped their conversation. "Time's up. Is everyone ready to show their presentations about banking?"

Merlin felt his stomach drop. Presentations? They were supposed to have made presentations? He shot quick glances at Gwen and Morgana; they wore matching expressions of horror.

"Shall we start with your group, Merlin?" the teacher said with a kind smile.

"Um…" His voice wavered, but he couldn't think of a good excuse. "Ok."

He, Gwen and Morgana all got to their feet. The class stared at them expectantly and they stared back, wondering what they were supposed to be doing a presentation on.

"Go ahead and start whenever you're ready," Mrs. Street told them.

They all nodded and smiled then shared clueless looks with one another. Morgana decided to start by saying, "Banking is… when you put money into an… account and they give you interest on the… stuff that's in there."

Merlin closed his eyes in embarrassment and was struck by a sudden brilliant plan. When he opened his eyes Morgana was looking at him expectantly. He faced the class opened his mouth and yelled, "I think I'm going to be sick!" before running out of the classroom. Gwen and Morgana quickly picked up on his plan and grabbed their belongings (Sparky too) and raced out of the classroom, apologizing to the worried Mrs. Street and amused students as they went.

Out in the hall Gwen and Morgana caught up with Merlin, who had stopped just round the corner. "Good plan," Gwen complimented.

Morgana nodded her agreement. "We should do that more often."

Merlin grinned at his friends then turned to Gwen. "So what are you going to wear on your 'date'?"

* * *

Thanks for reading! Days to write, minutes to comment – please do!


	11. Chapter 11

**Title:** COD (Centre of Detention) Chapter 11

**Author:** topperchar

**Characters:** Merlin/Arthur, very small amounts of Gwen/Lancelot and Morgana/Leon, and various OCs and other canon characters.

**Rating:** NC-17

**Word Count: **7,015

**Summary: **In Merlin's opinion, Arthur Pendragon is a complete prat. Isn't it odd how quickly and wholly a person's opinion can change? A tale of how a few detentions, a couple of arguments and a kiss can change your life. High school AU

**Warnings: **Serious overuse and abuse of italics, naughty language, tiny bit of blaspheming, so much cheesiness and fluffiness you may need an operation. The rating is for the language not anything else.

**A/N:** I'm sorry that this has taken forever! My muse eloped with my ability to write well and if it wasn't for my life-saving sister then this would be so much worse than it is. Thank you Pepsi! Anyway, yes, yes, we all know the drill by now, I grovel bring fic and ask to be forgiven. But it's ok 'cause this is the last really late update that you'll ever get for this fic – this is the last part! I'm quite emotional actually. When I finished this I was so happy I jumped up and danced. There may be a few extras for this, look out for them! Anyway, a friend of mine read this and described Merlin's epic love for Arthur in my fic as 'he was head over heels with candy canes and chocolate hearts in love with Arthur' and she kindly allowed me to use it in this part. Look out for it! Thank you so much to everyone who has commented on this! You've all been really supportive and lovely. I hope you enjoy this (last!) part! ^.^

**Disclaimer:** All characters are the property of the BBC. And the lyrics are taken from the wonderful song The Reason by Hoobastank. Everything else is the product of my odd mind. Enjoy!

* * *

Merlin chewed his lip thoughtfully as he waited for Morgana and Gwen to pick him up and whisk him away to the summer soirée. He leant his forehead against the mirror he had fixed his hair in and sighed deeply. School today had been depressingly uneventful – he and Morgana hadn't even blown anything up in Chemistry and he had shared none of his lessons with Arthur, only catching glimpses of the (loveable) prat at break and lunch. They hadn't exchanged two words since Arthur had gifted him Sparky (_not _G.S.D.) and Merlin was beginning to feel a nervous tug at his stomach. As angry as he was with the blonde, he didn't really want to lose him.

The monotonous day had left the dark haired boy feeling lethargic. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to go to the summer soirée – not that he had wanted to go in the first place. He sighed heavily again and moved back to lean against the wall.

Gaius came round the corner as Merlin checked his hair in the glass for the umpteenth time; it was refusing to lie flat. "Merlin?" his uncle asked softly.

Merlin made a small sound to show that he was listening and briefly flicked his eyes over to Gaius, who was… holding Sparky for some strange and unknown reason. Merlin frowned and turned his full attention to the man at the end of the hall. "Why do you have my dragon?"

Gaius shrugged. "You left him in the kitchen on top of the microwave and he looked lonely so I thought I'd bring him out to you." He handed Merlin the small stuffed toy.

He took it and stroked Sparky's nose softly.

His uncle watched Merlin as Merlin watched Sparky. They stood in silence for a moment before Gaius asked, "Have you spoken to Arthur recently?"

"A little," he replied without looking up.

"And?"

"And nothing. We talked and I don't feel like punching him in the face or bursting into tears whenever I see him anymore." _Ok, maybe that last part had been a teensy bit of a lie._ But Gaius didn't need to know that he was head over heels with candy canes and chocolate hearts in love with Arthur and he had to bite his lip and take several deep breaths every time he caught a glimpse of the blonde to stop the well of emotion from rising up and forcing tears to form in his eyes.

Gaius sighed. "I just hope that everything turns out all right in the end. Have you told your mother?"

Merlin froze. He hadn't even considered telling Hunith, who was as hopelessly in love with Arthur as he was, about the fact that he wasn't going out with the golden boy anymore. "Um…"

His uncle patted his shoulder as a horn sounded from outside and the familiar sound of Morgana yelling for Merlin to 'hurry the hell up' drifted to him. Merlin winced and thought about how the neighbours would glare at him every morning for the next two weeks. "Your ride's here," Gaius said cheerily, grinning at Merlin like he knew exactly what the dark haired boy was thinking and he was _happy _that the neighbours would be trying to kill his nephew with their eyes for the foreseeable future. Merlin wondered why he liked this man so much.

"I'll see you later," Merlin muttered darkly, yanking on his converse while Morgana's car horn blasted again.

"When will you be back?" Gaius asked. He handed Merlin his jacket.

"I don't know. Don't wait up for me." Then he darted outside with a quick wave and ran down to jump in the back of Morgana's sleek black sports car before his uncle could interrogate him further. "Did you really need to sound the horn twice?"

"Sorry," Gwen said with a bright smile, turning round in the passenger's seat. "Morgana elbowed it when we were having an epic fight for the jelly babies." She produced the packet from a pocket. "I won. Jelly baby?" she offered, holding the packet out for Merlin with a smile.

It was as he reached out to take one that he realized he still had Sparky in his hand. Merlin placed the dragon on the seat next to his, briefly considering buckling him in. _No, that's taking it too far, even for me._ However, Merlin did hold on to the dragon's wing a little nervously so that he wouldn't go flying off the seat when they went round corners.

Morgana scowled and made a grab for the bag as it came back into her arm range. Gwen pulled them out of reach and Morgana stuck her tongue out. "I don't want one of your stupid jelly babies anyway. Do you have any idea how much sugar there is in one of those things?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Shut up and drive, Morgana. We don't pay you to have an opinion."

"You don't pay me at all," the older girl replied. She started the car and pulled away anyway.

"So are you looking forward to the performance?" Gwen asked brightly. "I'm really excited!"

Merlin nodded and tried to look excited, but judging by the look on Gwen's face he failed miserably. "Shouldn't you be riding with Lance if this is your date?" He changed the subject quickly.

"I'm meeting him there," Gwen explained. "He's going with Leon and-"

Before she could finish, Morgana elbowed her violently in the ribs and turned on the radio – loudly.

"Ow!" The darker girl pouted. Then her brain caught up with her mouth and she gasped. "I shouldn't have said that."

"Who else is Leon taking?" Merlin asked in confusion. "Hang on; I didn't think Leon could drive."

"He can't," Morgana answered while Gwen looked awkward and moderately stricken. "They're going with one of the light techies. Jamie – do you know him?" Her voice was light and overly-casual; she was lying he was sure of it.

"No," Merlin said slowly. He glanced between his two friends, but neither of them were looking at him. _Something odd is going on here._ They were hiding something from him and he wanted to know what and why. However, before he had the chance to ask, Morgana turned up the radio – too loud for any conversation to even be attempted – and yelled, "I love this song."

Miley Cyrus blasted through the speakers and Merlin wrinkled his nose and raised an eyebrow – quite an impressive expression which he had learned from Gaius – at Morgana's song choice. Did she honestly expect him to fall for that? Nevertheless, he let the conversation lie and the rest of the car journey was spent listening to a _really _crap radio station while Morgana tried (and failed) to pretend that she _loved_ the music they were playing.

* * *

Merlin felt uncharacteristically nervous when they entered the school hall. It was rather extravagantly decorated with lots of flowers and bright colours. He had the impression that this concert was actually a spectacularly big deal for the school. The guilt which had been nibbling at his stomach flared again; Arthur would have enjoyed this far more than Merlin – why on earth had he given up his ticket?

He held Sparky in a vice-like grasp. Morgana had tried to convince him to leave the dragon in the car, but that had just resulted in another debate about cruelty to toys which had ended in Gwen grabbing their arms and hauling them all into the hall, Sparky included.

"There they are," Morgana suddenly pointed out and Merlin's attention was wrenched from the decorations to see Lance and Leon waving at the three of them. They were already seated fairly near the front.

Something above Leon and Lance caught Merlin's attention and his eyes moved up to see a very familiar-looking someone darting backstage. His heart stopped and he froze. Gwen grabbed the dark haired boy's arm and pulled him along when it became apparent that he wasn't going to move on his own. He remained staring straight ahead with a blank expression on his face even as she pushed him down into a seat and stuck Sparky in the seat beside him.

Morgana frowned, touching his arm gently. "Merlin?"

No response.

"Merlin?" She tried again a little louder.

Still, no response.

She clicked her fingers in front of his face.

Nothing.

It was only when she kicked him in the shin – with her six inch heels, _hard _– that he yelped and turned to glare at her.

"What the hell was that for?" he hissed, rubbing his injured leg and doing his impression of a kicked puppy. Merlin's face was heart-breakingly cute when he did his kicked puppy expression, but it sadly had no effect on Morgana, who was an evil witch.

"You went comatose. I thought I'd wake you up." She shrugged and smiled sharply at him. He glared back at her. "Speaking of, why did you go comatose?"

The blood left Merlin's face, turning him startlingly pale. "He's here!" Merlin darted a look around the room cautiously like he was expecting someone to come up behind him and try to kidnap him.

"Who's here?" Gwen asked in confusion, joining the conversation.

"Arthur." Merlin's eyes were wide when he stared at her – it would have been funny if he hadn't looked so terrified.

"Oh." Morgana giggled, which was terrifying in and of itself because Morgana _never _giggled. Even Leon looked worried. "You've seen him then?"

"You told me he wasn't coming!" Merlin accused. His rising voice was beginning to attract attention.

Gwen made a quick hushing noise and sent an apologetic glance at the family sitting in front of them. "Keep your voice down."

"Keep my voice down?" His voice was two octaves higher than it should be and he sounded like he was choking on one of Gwen's jelly babies.

"Why did you tell Merlin that Arthur wasn't coming?" Lance asked in confusion.

Morgana smiled pityingly at him. "You're not the brightest bulb in the shed, are you Lance?"

"Hey!" Gwen defended.

"How else were we supposed to get Merlin to agree to come?" The other girl ignored her friend's protest as Gwen's bottom lip jutted out.

"So Merlin doesn't know that Arthur's-"

"No!" Gwen and Morgana yelled, cutting Leon off before he could finish his question. The family in front turned to glare at them again then muttered something about 'youths' and stood to go and sit somewhere else.

"Arthur's what?" Merlin demanded, pulling Gwen and Morgana away from where their hands were covering Leon's mouth and preventing him from speaking.

"Nothing," Gwen said, guilt shining in her young face. Morgana sent Leon a warning glance that said, 'Speak-and-thou-shalt-kill-thee'. "Nothing at all. You know what, Arthur isn't even here. That guy who you saw must have just looked like him and wasn't actually him because he is not here. Nope, nowhere near here at all." She laughed nervously.

"Right," he said dubiously. "Was the guy who I saw 'Jamie the light techie' then?" His voice was coated with sarcasm.

"Um…Who?" Gwen stared at him and Morgana smacked her forehead.

"When this is over, Gwen," Morgana started, "we are working on your lying skills."

"Does 'Jamie the light techie' even exist?" Merlin asked, rolling his eyes.

Morgana shook her head. "I wasn't going to tell you that Arthur was taking them. You probably would've jumped out of the car."

Merlin blinked at her. "We were moving."

She shrugged. "I never said you were smart, honey."

"Actually, you did."

"I was obviously lying to make you feel better."

Gwen interrupted before Merlin blew Morgana up with his all-powerful glare of death. "Why is it a problem that Arthur is here anyway, I thought you two were talking now?"

Merlin shuffled awkwardly. "We are, but…" He tried desperately hard to think of a plausible reason that he wouldn't want to speak to Arthur. Annoyingly, not a single one came to mind – only the fact that he was terrified that he would speak to the blonde and Arthur would ignore him because… well, because of something. How was Merlin supposed to understand the inner workings of Arthur-logic?

Morgana looked smug and oddly triumphant. Gwen just looked expectant. And Lance and Leon looked confused. Merlin had a strong and sudden desire to say 'You two really are slow, aren't you?' – then the realization that he truly was doomed hit him; Arthur's prattishness was already beginning to rub off on him. Merlin groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

Gwen frowned and asked "What's wrong?" as Morgana ruffled his hair.

"I'm having prattish impulses," Merlin muffled through his hands.

"It happens to the best of us," Morgana intoned seriously.

The lights dimmed then and Merlin lifted his head to see the curtains open. "It's about to start," Gwen exclaimed pointlessly, bouncing in her seat with excitement. Even Morgana looked eager through her façade of indifference. Leon and Lance shared a look. Merlin had the distinct feeling that he was missing something.

He glanced back over to the stage to see Mr. Baxter came on stage with a microphone. "Good evening everyone. I would like to welcome you all and thank you for coming to Camelot Academy's annual Summer Soirée. It is a pleasure to see so many of you here. Tonight we have some truly amazing acts – not only do we have music, but we also have dance and drama being showcased here tonight. I request that you all turn off any mobile phones or pagers and please refrain from using flash photography. This evening will be recorded and a DVD of tonight will be available to buy from reception. Please save any shows of appreciation to after a performance and try to refrain from calling out during the performance as it is off-putting for the performers. Refreshments will be served during the interval. Thank you very much." He turned off the microphone and left the stage as the lights faded.

Merlin snorted and shared a look with Sparky. The dragon looked like it was grinning and Merlin decided that Sparky thought Mr. Baxter was an idiot too. His old school had never said anything like that before a show. "Do we have a programme?" he whispered to Morgana.

She turned to stare at him and even in the dark Merlin could see that she was biting her lip.

"What?" Why was everyone acting so weird? They were doing an awful job of hiding whatever it was that they were supposed to be hiding.

"After this act, I'll let you see the programme," she whispered back.

Merlin raised his eyebrow. "And I can't see it now because…?"

The lights came back on again and Morgana gestured at the stage. Merlin frowned, but looked at the stage anyway to see… Arthur. Walking onto the stage. Holding a microphone.

He felt his stomach plummet through the floor and his heart stop. He hadn't realized that he was holding his breath till Morgana squeezed his hand and whispered in his ear to, "Breathe."

Merlin gasped. He could feel himself shaking and it was so unfair that Arthur could do that to him by just _being there_. But he wasn't just there. He was on a stage. The school's stage. And he had a microphone. And he was walking towards the piano. And he was placing the microphone in the little holder above the piano. And everyone had kept this from him, which meant that whatever Arthur had to be doing, he was doing it for Merlin and he hadn't wanted Merlin to know. Which meant…which meant _something._

He watched – frozen – as Arthur sat down at the piano and turned the microphone on. The blonde coughed nervously and smiled at the audience. "Um… hi."

A slight murmur of laughter sounded and a few mothers tittered and 'aww'd at him.

Arthur cleared his throat again and said. "No one actually knows that I'm doing a little speech before my song so I'm just hoping that they don't turn the microphone off before I say what I want to say and come out here and tell me off." He grimaced at the audience and another soft murmur of laughter followed by 'aww's sounded again.

"I'm kind of… really nervous." Arthur's voice shook with his nerves as he spoke and he looked down at the piano keys with a small smile. "This… My performance is… an apology. It's for someone very special to me who I care about very much." He looked back out to the audience and Merlin felt like he was staring straight at him, but that was impossible because it was too dark to see anything let alone pick one face out of an entire audience.

More coos and 'aww's followed this and Arthur _blushed._ He actually blushed. "He's probably going to hate me for this, or hate me more than he already does anyway," Merlin had the overwhelming desire to jump up and yell 'I don't hate you' but he refrained, "this is for Merlin."

Several students around them turned to stare at him then. And within seconds the entire room knew where he was sitting – all sitting up in their seats and craning their necks to get a good look at him. Merlin shrank down in his seat and tried to pretend that he wasn't there. Even Morgana, Gwen, Leon and Lance turned to stare at him, which was just plain unfair because if there was ever any doubt in anyone's minds that maybe the odd-boy-with-the-ears wasn't Merlin then the fact that even the people who he came with were staring at him would be a dead giveaway. He glared at them. Morgana and Gwen – evil bitches and he was _never_ calling them his best friends _ever_ again – grinned.

"I guess he's sitting over there," Arthur's voice came across on the microphone and Merlin didn't even need to look at him to tell that he was smirking. _Bastard,_ he thought with a smile. Then he caught himself – was he seriously thinking _fond _insults at his ex-boyfriend? He shook his head and snarled at the little girl across the aisle who was staring at him. She quickly looked away and kept darting scared looks at him like he was a little deranged and she couldn't understand why the gorgeous guy on stage liked _him_. Merlin thought he could identify with her on that point.

"I just… wanted to say," Arthur paused and stared back down at the piano. He looked so nervous and so scared and Merlin wanted to jump up onto the stage and wrap his arms round him and never let him go because _damn it all _he _loved_ the stupid prat and he didn't _care_ that he was a bet because Arthur looked scared and Arthur should never look scared because he was _Arthur_. But Merlin didn't, instead he bit his lip and tried to contain the small whimper from escaping him.

"I'm sorry," Arthur said, whispered, so quietly that it was almost too low for the microphone to pick up. He sounded so sincere and so honest and so… hopeful.

At the next chorus of 'aww's Merlin was fully prepared to drag everyone out of the hall so that he could listen to Arthur because his speech wasn't intended for any of the people who were sitting there and 'aww'ing like they had some sort of right to hear Arthur when he was vulnerable and hurt. Merlin didn't want all of these people to have a front row seat to his life; this was private and he didn't want them there to hear everything Arthur had to say. He wanted them all to _go _the hell _away_ so that he could listen to Arthur and forgive him and maybe have some rather extraordinary make-up make-out time.

The 'aww's were getting ridiculous now. Merlin heard someone somewhere behind him say, "Oh, isn't he so sweet?" And Merlin kind of wanted to punch whoever it was in the face because no, Arthur was not sweet. He went out with Merlin for a bet and now he was begging him for forgiveness and – predictably – he had the entire fricking _hall _on his side. The girl Merlin had snarled at was alternating between glaring at him and staring lovingly at Arthur. Merlin had the urge to punch her in the face as well, mainly because Arthur was _his _and she had no right to look at him like she wished that he would turn his attention to her.

Merlin laughed breathlessly and she beamed at him. "Will you listen to him now?" Morgana murmured through the titters and 'aww's from the audience.

He nodded and gave her a small smile in return.

"So, now onto the song." Arthur turned to the piano then paused and turned back to the audience. "I should probably apologize for my awful singing; I thought it would have more impact if I completely humiliated myself."

Merlin smirked – he agreed with that.

A smattering of applause sounded from the audience, but it quickly died down as Arthur started playing. Merlin sat up in his seat, as curious as everyone else to know what he was going to play.

The blonde started playing, low and steady, and it took Merlin a second to realize the song. When he did he closed his eyes against the well of emotion. Then Arthur started to sing and his voice was weak and a little shaky and he was nervous as hell and it hurt that Merlin could tell that without even having to look at him.

"_I'm not a perfect person  
There's many things I wish I didn't do  
But I continue learning  
I never meant to do those things to you."_

Merlin almost felt like laughing at how perfectly the lyrics fit. He opened his eyes and stared at Arthur. Arthur who was on stage and _singing _to him. His breath caught in his chest; this was so ridiculously clichéd and he absolutely loved it. For the first time since he had met the prat, Merlin actually believed that the blonde might, possibly, love him.

"_I've found a reason for me  
To change who I used to be  
A reason to start over new  
And the reason is you."_

Another shuddering gasp caught in Merlin's throat as he desperately tried to blink back the tears in his eyes. The hall was silent but for Arthur's voice and the notes drifting through the air. There was no whispered judgement between women or half-concealed cough from that annoying man in the back, who – even though he was ill – always came to every performance and coughed throughout it. There was no tittering chatter between teenagers about how devastatingly hot or tragically _not_ the people on stage were. Everyone seemed completely captivated by the spell Arthur was weaving, even if his voice did keep on breaking on every other note.

"_I'm sorry that I hurt you_

_It's something I must live with everyday_

_And all the pain I put you through_

_I wish that I could take it all away_

_And be the one who catches all your tears."_

He had to physically press a hand to his eyes then to stop the damn tears from falling. There was a feeling in his chest and it was too tight and too small to contain everything that he had whirling inside him. His eyes itched from the need to cry and his heart was beating way too fast and his hands were sweating and... Damn how did Arthur do this to him? It was monumentally unfair! Merlin glanced over at the girl across the aisle; she was still staring at Arthur as if he was a godsend. He glared at her.

Part of him still wished that everyone would bugger off and leave Arthur to serenade him and him alone. He wanted Arthur's talent all to himself – a secret between the two of them that Arthur had only revealed to him – as selfish as that desire was. But another part of Merlin, a tiny part so inconsequential that it was barely worth mentioning most of the time, was overjoyed that all these people were there to witness Arthur handing over his heart to Merlin – handing over a part of himself so trustingly and fully prepared to stand by while Merlin either accepted it and gave his in return or crushed it where it lay fragile in his palm. It felt important. It sounded like a promise.

The dark haired boy glanced over at his friends. Lance wore a small, proud smile on his face which was matched in Leon's expression. Moisture was glinting in the corners of Gwen's eyes; a muscle in her jaw kept jumping signalling that she was barely holding back her tears. And Morgana...

Merlin wasn't even shocked to find that her sharp green gaze was fixed on him rather than on her adoptive brother. She was looking at him with an inscrutable expression. He was under the impression that she was searching him for something; she must have found what she was looking for as a sudden, smug smile stretched across her painted lips. Merlin was seized by the sudden urge to stick his tongue out at her. So he did. Because it was too dark for anyone else to see the childish gesture and he was clearly a five year old.

Another smug smirk was his only reply and how had Merlin never noticed before how similar Morgana and Arthur were? He returned his full attention to Arthur, who was back on relatively firm ground, as an instrumental interlude meant that he didn't have to sing appallingly and could just focus on playing the music.

The set of the blonde's shoulders told Merlin that even though he was back in familiar territory with the music, he was still terrified. The coil of concern and guilt that unfurled in Merlin's stomach was sudden and made his head reel for a second. Why did he feel guilty? He hadn't done anything wrong.

_Yes you have,_ said the extremely annoying voice in his head.

Merlin spared a moment to ask the voice who the hells side they were on anyway because if they were on Arthur's side then he was going to kick it out of his head before dropping the inner-conversation in favour of listening to the song.

"_I've found a reason to show  
A side of me you didn't know  
A reason for all that I do  
And the reason is you."_

The song slowed – it was finished. Arthur ended with a litany of high notes; his hands rested briefly on the keys before sliding off to ball into fists by his sides. There was silence as the notes faded. Then an old woman at the front jumped to her feet and started clapping. She was followed by a man towards the back and then a young boy and his mother and then the whole room was standing and clapping and cheering.

Merlin spared another thought for how ridiculously_ cheesy_ and _clichéd_ this all was; it was one of those things that never happened in real life – ever. One of those things that you saw on TV and thought 'Oh, isn't that lovely? Wouldn't that be great if there were men who actually did that?', but that never happened past the Hollywood screen or the staged celebrity lifestyles.

He stood a little reluctantly, swallowing the lump in his throat, and clapped along with everyone else. Arthur had risen from the piano stool and came to the front of the stage. He bowed low once, his eyes trained on the floor. When he rose from the bow, his eyes remained staring at the floor. He looked anything but the cocky and confident man that Merlin was so used to. That, more than anything else, made his heart twist painfully in his chest.

"Is that your boyfriend, dear?" asked the woman behind them who had called Arthur 'sweet' when he was giving his speech.

Merlin gaped at her. "Sort of," he croaked. He was having an emotional panic attack here, how was he supposed to think of an appropriate answer to a question that he didn't even know the answer to?

She smiled at him and patted his arm. "You're very lucky," the crazy lady told him.

As she continued clapping, Merlin blinked and turned back to the stage to see Arthur walking off. "I think I am," he whispered to himself.

Mr. Baxter came back on to the stage as the clapping died down and people sat back in their seats. "Well," he began a little awkwardly, "after that... heartfelt opening act, we are going to move onto something a little more visual." He smiled broadly at them all. "A dance! Performed by a very talented group of students..."

Merlin tuned him out. The last thing he wanted to do now was listen to Mr. Baxter go on all night and watch a bunch of school kids, half of whom he didn't even know let alone like, doing a load of stuff that he wasn't particularly interested in.

Something was shoved into his hand then and he looked down to see a programme on his lap. "You can look at the programme now," Morgana whispered in his ear.

Merlin smiled wryly at her and flicked through the little green booklet. It was a bit of a crap programme. It was a folded sheet of A4 green paper with a bunch of names on it. He thumbed through it quickly, not really paying attention to anything but the fact that Arthur wouldn't be coming back on again till the end. He checked his watch. The end which was in _two hours and twenty minutes_. Merlin rolled his eyes and refolded the piece of paper before handing it back to Morgana.

As the music started for the next act's dance, Merlin rose form his seat. Morgana's sharp nails dug into his arm. "Where are you going?" she hissed.

"Outside," he explained, "I need some air."

A brief flicker of concern flashed into her eyes. "You're all right?"

It was a statement phrased as a question. Merlin nodded and she released him. He quickly darted outside before she could change her mind and drag him back.

* * *

Stepping out into the night air helped to clear his head a little. He leant on a rail outside reception and stared down into the neat little flower beds framing the entrance. It was only when he clasped his hands in front of him that he realised he had left Sparky inside sitting on the seat beside his. He shrugged; Gwen would pick him up if he wasn't back in by the interval. Both girls would probably come out and see him anyway, demanding to know what he thought of Arthur's performance and if they were going to get back together or not.

Merlin groaned and dropped his head onto the rail. The metal was cool against his forehead. Arthur. Whenever he thought of him it sent chills down his spine and an ice block to his stomach. He wanted him and he loved him, but how could he trust him? After what he had done, would they still be able to...? Would it even work between the two of them? He wanted it to. He _really _wanted it to and part of him thought that it could. Part of him thought that he and Arthur together would be perfect, everything.

_Destiny._

But then he was scared – terrified. Arthur was so... well, Arthur. He was amazing and beautiful and cocky and annoying and a total and utter prat and all he had to do was smile at someone and they'd be at his feet begging him and offering him the world. Whereas Merlin was... not. Merlin was a little bit awkward in his skin and he had big ears and was clumsy and talked too much and ate too little and cried and acted like a total girl sometimes. Yet, Arthur had said that he loved him. So that must mean...

His thoughts were cut off by a voice, a very familiar voice. "Hello."

Merlin turned to see Arthur, standing with his hands in his pockets, staring at him with a guarded expression. "Hello," Merlin replied quietly.

Arthur walked forwards to stand beside him and looked down at the flowerbeds the slighter boy had been staring into. "Is there something interesting down there? All I can see is flowers."

"Flowers can be interesting," he said, voice still quiet. If he spoke any louder than he was terrified he would break from the sound. "If Gaius heard you say they weren't he'd probably kill you."

Arthur grinned at him. "Good thing Gaius isn't here then."

Merlin huffed a quiet laugh and looked back down at the plants. An uncomfortable silence stretched between them. It was filled with questions and uncertainties and so much hope it should have burst from the weight of unspoken truths.

"What did you think of my singing?" the blonde asked. He sounded overly casual; the tone gave away his nerves.

Merlin ignored the question. "I think... I'm ready to hear what you have to say now."

Arthur nodded. "Where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning would be good," he replied with a small smile.

The answering smile was a little weak, but it meant a lot to know that he had tried. "I liked you, still like you, before... everything. That first time I went into your detention, I hadn't made the bet at the time. I went there because... of you. Because I thought – think – you're amazing and lovely and funny. You... fascinated me. I had never met someone like you and you interested me, which is quite rare and I... I wanted to know more about you. That wasn't a bet, I like you, genuinely. It's not a side effect of a stupid bet that I made." His explanation was slow and careful. A little hesitant, but Merlin could understand, sort of.

"If you liked me before then why did you even make the bet?" The dark haired boy kept staring at the ground even as Arthur's hand slid over to cover his on the railing.

"Because I'm an idiot?"

Merlin smiled and breathed out a tiny laugh.

"You think I'm joking," Arthur said wistfully, staring up as the other boy looked down. "I made the bet so that I could have a reason to hang around with you at school, so that I didn't have to tell my friends that I actually really liked you."

Merlin snorted. "Yeah, 'cause that would be a real tragedy."

Arthur sighed and his hand tightened over Merlin's. "I've already agreed that I'm an idiot. Do you want me to say it again?"

A smile spread over Merlin's face; it surprised him how real it felt. "Can I have it in writing?"

"Why? So that you can tease me about it later?"

"Maybe."

"So we're going to be talking later then?"

Merlin frowned. "Maybe. You're not doing a very good job of persuading me so far. Keep talking."

Arthur swallowed. "I was going to call it all off when you overheard me talking to them." At the disbelieving sound from the boy next to him, Arthur squeezed his hand again. "I was." His voice was hard and determined – honest.

Merlin believed him.

"I should have done it earlier when I," pause, "when I started falling in love with you. I know I should have, but I didn't because, as we've already pointed out, I am an idiot. And maybe also a little bit of a prat."

Merlin smirked and glanced up at Arthur through his eyelashes. The look was flirtatious and coy and probably not the best look to be giving someone who was trying to grovel their way back into your good books. "Only a little?"

"Don't push your luck," Arthur grumbled.

"Why did you not?" Merlin asked, returning the conversation to seriousness again.

He shrugged. "I don't know." Arthur smiled – small and secretive – as he said, "It probably had something to do with expectations."

"I hate expectations." Merlin turned his hand to curl his fingers round Arthur's.

The smile that lit up the blonde's face was bright enough to blind. "Me too."

Silence stretched between them again. It was comfortable this time though and not so full of unspoken words and hurt. The hope was still there, more and brighter than before.

"I know," Arthur started, breaking the silence. "I know my reasoning behind making you a bet is pretty pathetic and my explanation isn't much better."

Merlin snorted again. "Understatement of the century," he muttered.

The blonde winced. "But... I really love you." Merlin closed his eyes and listened to how the words sounded – honest, tentative, scared. "And... gods Merlin, please, please, please, forgive me."

The slighter boy bit his lip and looked back down at the flowers. "You're a prat – a greater prat I have yet to meet – and you can't sing to save your life and you're so embarrassing it's unbelievable." He felts tears build and catch at his eyelashes again. "But you're also sweet and surprisingly kind when you feel like you have nothing to prove and I absolutely hate you because I don't hate you at all. Because you're a stupid fricking prat and I love you." He forced himself to cut off and turned to see Arthur staring at him like he'd just handed him the world.

"We, you... are you serious?" Arthur gaped and his eyes bugged comically in shock.

Merlin ignored him. "I..." He didn't know what to say. All he knew was that he didn't want to fight with him anymore. "You're my reason too." Merlin's voice shook as he spoke and the tears which he had been fighting for so long finally escaped to roll down his cheeks.

The words had barely left his mouth before Arthur span him round, his lips locked over Merlin's, crushing his body to him and flicking his tongue against the slighter boy's lips, begging for entrance. Merlin granted it with a groan and bought his hands up to twine in Arthur's hair, turning his head so the kiss could deepen.

"Arthur." The word rolled into a chant in his head of _want, need, have to have you, I'm sorry, now, god yes, now _as Arthur's lips glided over Merlin's. It was sloppy and not at all refined and kind of gross and Merlin's chin was slick with Arthur's saliva, but he didn't _care_ because his lips were right there and his hands were running down his sides and all he could feel, all he could smell was Arthur and he hadn't even realized he had missed the stupid prat so much till he had him back in his arms where he was supposed to be.

"I missed you," Merlin murmured stupidly as they pulled apart to breathe.

The blonde dipped his face into Merlin's neck and breathed in deeply. He could feel the smile pressed to his skin as Arthur's arms wrapped tightly round his waist. "I missed you too. I'm sorry Merlin, I'm so sorry."

He pressed his lips to the silky blonde hair and whispered, "I know." His voice cracking as he said the words, but he couldn't even find it in himself to be embarrassed.

Arthur pulled back then and beamed brightly at Merlin. "I don't think I've ever been so emotional before."

Merlin rolled his eyes. "No, you probably haven't. That's because you're emotionally stunted."

His eyebrows drew together and he pouted. Merlin felt a laugh bubble up in his chest; he saw no reason to stop it from falling from his lips so he let it out and sure he sounded a little bit like a crazy person, laughing maniacally, but who actually cared anyway? Besides, the look on Arthur's face was more than worth sounding like he was insane.

"I do have to tell you something though," Merlin said mock-seriously, the smile falling form his lips.

Arthur frowned and his arms loosened. "What?"

"As adorable as your singing is, Arthur," he beamed brightly, the smile threatening to split his face in half, "and as cute as it was to have you sing for me, I really think you should stick with the piano." The last half was half whispered like it was some kind of grand secret between the two of them.

The blonde scowled and squeezed Merlin's waist. He yelped and batted at Arthur's hands before being pulled into another laughing kiss. "I love you." Now that Arthur had said the words once, he didn't seem to be able to stop. It was like an addiction – love was a far better high than any drug.

Merlin nuzzled Arthur's neck. "You already know I do too."

He huffed. "It's nice to hear it."

"Yes it is," the dark haired boy replied with a brilliant smile as he pulled back to look at his boyfriend.

"Why do I even like you?"

Merlin laughed and rested his forehead against Arthur's. The sound of applause drifted through the open door, reminding them that a concert was going on just inside.

"Do you want to go?" Arthur asked, turning his head to press the question into the skin under Merlin's ear with a brush of lips.

He shivered under the touch. "Yes. Oh, wait, no!" A thought had suddenly hit him and he darted a look at the door.

"Why?" Arthur asked, confusion written in his tone and his expression.

"Sparky's still inside," Merlin explained.

"Sparky?"

"Yes, Sparky. Hang on, you don't know who Sparky is, do you?"

Arthur shook his head.

The dark haired boy rolled his eyes. "Sparky's the dragon you gave me."

Arthur stared at him in silence for a moment. Then, in disbelief, "You named it Sparky?"

"Him not it!" Merlin chastised.

"Sparky!" Arthur retorted.

"It's better than GSD," the other boy grumbled.

A pause.

"What?"

* * *

I cannot believe it's over! *sniffle* So sad! Thank you so much to everyone for reading! Days (or months if you're counting the whole thing) to write, minutes to comment – please do!


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